Sora Gaiden
by AuDC Productions
Summary: Inflicting harm or hurt on someone for an injury suffered. The administering of deserved punishment. Revenge. Justice. For a young swordsman seeking retribution for the death of his family and friend, the line between the two could never be smaller. Until he would join a team built, not around revenge, but justice.
1. Decisions Pt 1

**Author's Notes:** So here is the third story that I'll be working on for a while. It was requested by Sketchywolf. It follows the YJ canon storyline with some extra twists and turns that are the result of the OC Sora Takashi being present. It will also be rated T with brief nudity (most likely doctor check-ups and such) and profanity. This will also be the first story that I have done that A) follows a canon plot and B) the main character has super-powers. More info will be dumped in the AN below, but until then, let's get on with chapter one of this new story; Sora Gaiden.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Young Justice or any DC related places or themes. Raijin (Sora Takashi) was created and thus owned by Sketchywolf. All rights reserved.

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Sora Gaiden

Chapter One: Decisions Pt. 1

 _Cadmus Labs/ Washington D.C/ 12:13 a.m. /July 5, 2010_

He remembers how he all began. He remembers how his parents had gotten into some trouble with a local small gang. How they went out and contacted the man known as Deathstroke the Terminator to fix their problem.

That was the beginning of the problem.

Deathstroke had done what he was paid to do, but he requested more payment. His parents were not rich and Deathstroke took the only thing of value that he could; Sora.

The teen took in a deep breath at that thought. His parents fought tooth and nail and eventually lost their lives in the bout. And for Sora Takashi, he was taken by the man his parents sought to keep him from. He had become property of Deathstroke the Terminator.

In the beginning, it wasn't so bad. Deathstroke had taught him how to utilize his powers and how to use his sword better. Sora was appreciative of that, especially at such a young age. Sword-play was cool back then and being able to teleport to that sword only made it seem more interesting. Deathstroke had shown Sora things that Sora never thought he'd be able to.

But that was in the beginning.

It did not stay that way and Sora did his best now not to remember all of it. For some nights that was easier said than done, but for now he had something else to focus on.

Despite ultimately escaping Deathstroke's grasp, Sora found himself still at the mercy of his occupation. In order to survive, he would still have to take odd jobs from people, similar to how it was with Deathstroke. And while killing was a no-go for the hooded teenager, he was willing to do other things for the right pay. It wasn't the ideal life style but it was really the only one that worked for him so far.

Though this was a bit different. He had been called to "check out" Cadmus Labs only for someone to come and apparently destroy all evidence. The place was set ablaze and the wrongdoer had apparently escaped before the authorities and firefighters appeared.

He was seconds from walking away until he saw a rather interesting sight. Three heroes- sidekicks to be more precise- breaking into the burning building as if there was something still left to investigate. His initial thought was that they had come to find clues about the fire-starter.

…But that was ten minutes ago. Now Sora was beginning to think that something major going on behind those closed doors.

"…" Sora was certain that there was something bigger than just an office fire taking place at the moment. Normally his curiosity wouldn't take this much control over his actions but today was something different.

With that in mind, he turned and left the small crowd of people. His black hoodie and blue jeans kept him from standing out that much, though the katana strapped to his back was sometimes a dead giveaway that he was not as normal as he seemed. Not that he wanted to be "normal" by any stretch of the imagination as normality had left his life years ago.

Now there was just this hellish day-in and day-out routine that he endured until he avenged Ally's death.

Another pause in his thoughts. Of course, every other day he is haunted by the thoughts of his parents' and friend's slayings. Half of the time, he pushed those thoughts aside for later. The other half, he used the anger to fuel his motivation and continue forwards in life.

Climbing up a fire escape on a nearby building, the teen focused on the task at hand. By now, his job was officially over as the facility looked pretty much destroyed. Any evidence that he would have found was probably burned to a crisp or worse. Yet he still wanted to enter the place to find out what happened to the sidekicks. A building of two stories should have been swept clean by a speedster in seconds. It's been _ten minutes_.

Something was definitely up.

Reaching the roof without causing a scene, Sora moved to edge closest to the street. His black eyes scanned the crowd below before locking onto the Cadmus building. Grabbing his blade from its sheath, he held the grip tightly in his right hand. With great aim, he launched his blade over the street and onto the Cadmus Labs building. A second later, he was on said Cadmus Labs building picking up the blade.

' _Teleportation had its uses.'_ Sora mused.

The black haired teen found the door that led to the stairwell and touched the knob with the back of his hand. After concluding that it was cool enough to grab, Sora entered the building via the stairwell.

 _'I'm getting a bad feeling about this,'_ Sora thought to himself as he began to descend the steps.

The ominous feeling was not misplaced. In just a few minutes, the building had gone from typical corporate laboratory to burnt haunted mansion in the vibes department.

Carefully reaching the second floor, which was presumably the top floor, Sora quietly crept down the wide hallways. He was trained to sneak around, an ability obviously taught to him by his mentor, so he was not initially worried about if someone was still within the building. In fact he knew that there were at least three bodies somewhere inside.

 _'Two stories aren't really big enough to hide three loud sidekicks.'_ Sora thought. _'If anything I should be able to hear-'_

His thoughts were interrupted when the building shook.

"What the…?"

Sora did not finish his statement for multiple reasons. For one, the building had just taken damage from a fire. He would rather not see if it could withstand an earthquake of any size. The second main reason that the tremble had gained his attention related to the three missing sidekicks.

They had to be behind the tremble somehow, someway.

Disregarding the shake for a moment, Sora found himself wandering the top floor of the building. He was no architect, but he assumed that the fire did not damage the support of the building, which was good. The last thing he needed was for the building to suddenly come down on him.

Soon he came to an odd scene, an open elevator shaft.

 _'They used the elevator during a fire?'_ Sora mentally questioned as he stepped to the shaft and looked downwards. _'I guess that answers where the sidekicks went. Now I just have to find a way to get down there.'_

Sora stared down the deep tunnel in thought. Given that he was prepared to sneak into a two-story building to snoop around and then exit, he had foregone grabbing any rope or grappling hook that would aid him for this sort of descent. Now he was regretting that decision.

 _'Jump.'_

Sora looked around, his eyes attempting to pick up the source of the voice. He clearly heard someone or _something_ that told him to jump.

 _'It's fine. Jump.'_

Normally, listening to a mysterious voice inside one's mind was a sign of a guilty conscience or insanity. Sora has dealt with both before but this was different. This was a voice unlike any others and offering him clear instructions.

 _'I'm probably going to regret this later…'_ the teen said as he pulled his hood over his head and removed the sword from its scabbard strapped to his back and looked down the shaft. _'Let's go.'_

Fearlessly, the teen stepped off of the floor and began to plummet into the darkness.

His trained eyes picked up on flashing images as he descended. He knew that if he could teleport to safety before the worse could happen, but he had to find a safe place to teleport to. The key to doing such a feat was patience. The moment he got too anxious was the moment he tossed his blade too soon or too late and that would result in his demise.

And just like that it happened. The world around him seemed to slow down as he spotted another opening, just like before. With great precision, he tossed his blade between the opened shutter doors and listened to the metal slide clang loudly against the linoleum floor.

Soon, Sora was standing beside his sword, picking it up while scanning to see if the noise brought any sort of attention.

 _'Coast is clear.'_ Sora thought as he crept towards the end of the hallway. _'Where am I?'_

It was a question that he could answer at the moment. Then again, when one falls forty-four levels down a two-story building, logic goes out of the window and unanswerable questions occur. Seeing these sub-levels made Sora question just what his current employer wanted him to find.

 _'Something tells me that it wasn't on the first two floors.'_ Sora begrudgingly thought.

Rounding a corner onto another seemingly empty hallway, Sora kept a sharp look out for any security machinery of any kind. This would include cameras or motion detectors, both common in a place like this, but neither to be seen.

The oddity did not stop there. There was still the fact that he had seen _no one_ since arriving on the floor despite the pried open doors signifying that _someone_ had to open the doors and be on this floor somewhere.

Taking another turn down another hall, Sora mentally made a recap of his movements.

 _'First I took a left, and then a right,'_ he recounted. _'No other exits seen. And…'_

Sora's thoughts slowly halted when he spotted something that should probably be on a distant planet or extinct. The large grotesque creature seemed to be the size of a mammoth, if not bigger, and apparently it walked on its hind legs and arms like a gorilla. Its tusks sprouted from the cheek bones of this large creature. Sora spotted another alien-like creature, this one smaller than Sora himself, that rested on the mammoth's head as the two beings glared at the boy.

 _'What in the…?'_ Sora thought as the behemoth let out a deep rumbling growl. _'No time to figure that out. I got it get out of here.'_

The beast let out a loud roar that caused Sora to immediately backtrack. Seconds later, Sora was running full speed down the hallways in an attempt to find an exit of any kind. The loud rumbling behind him told him that the large creature had taken chase, something he was not fond of.

 _'The elevator.'_ The voice came into Sora's mind again. _'Use the elevator.'_

At this moment, Sora could not care less who or what the voice in his head belonged to. He did not want to honestly combat the beast chasing him for several of obvious reasons. Worse, he had the strangest of feelings that he had set off an alarm someway somehow and was now going to have that much more of a problem leaving this place.

 _'Last time I take a job from a text.'_ Sora vowed in his head.

Skidding around a corner, Sora's eyes landed on opened shaft doors that he had used earlier. His legs seemed to gain a new burst of energy as he pushed for the exit. He came close to the edge of the floor, stopping before falling down the shaft, before seeing two figures fly by.

And then another pair.

 _'The sidekicks.'_ Sora thought as he watched the four bodies zoom for the top. He could see Robin using a grappling hook to pull himself and Kid Flash up while someone who strongly resembled a white-suited younger Superman flying by with Aqualad.

It was then that Sora caught something quite odd. The Superman look-alike began to descend as if he was not flying at all. With the rumbling growing behind Sora and two teens slowly beginning to pick up speed in their descent, Sora quickly used his abilities to appear next to Aqualad, catching the Atlantean's outstretched hand.

"Whoa, who are you?" Kid Flash voiced. "And how'd you do that?"

"No time for introductions," Robin announced as he eyed the elevator car lowering on them. "Let's move!"

Sora watched as Aqualad and, who he assumed to be, the spawn of Superman tear open the shaft doors and allow them to enter onto sub-level fifteen.

"Come on." Robin ordered as the group began running down a hall.

"Split end." Kid Flash noted.

"Go left." Sora glanced at the younger Superman but did not argue, the group following his lead now. "Now right."

 _'How does he know where he's going?'_ Sora thought. _'He's either been here before… Or he's guessing.'_

The group continued to follow Superboy's directions until they came to a dead end. Sora's eyes landed on a grate and figured his next move, his only goal now being to escape with or without the sidekicks.

 _'No, I'm not like him.'_ Sora mentally reprimanded himself.

"Hey new guy," Sora glanced to see that Kid Flash was speaking to him. "Are you coming or what?"

Seeing that the group was heading into the ventilation system, Sora only nodded.

Maneuvering through the vents was something Sora had done time before. When done properly, it was the best way to sneak up on unsuspecting targets or make for a well needed escape. He presumed that Robin, being a student under the elusive Batman, relied on the vents as much as Sora did.

"Hacking into the motion sensors," Robin quietly announced. "It'll buy us some time, but we need to get out of here fast."

"Dude, we still don't know who the third wheel is." Kid Flash not-so-quietly whispered as they continued their trek through the ventilation system.

"I'm not here for any of you," Sora announced. "And I don't work for Cadmus either."

"Then why are you here? And who are you?" Kid Flash shot back.

"I'm Raijin and you don't need to know why I'm here." responded the Japanese teen.

"We kind of-"

"Not important," Robin cut the speedster off. "Time to get out."

Sora found himself following the group out of the vent, now in the stairwell. He had to admit that crawling through a tight space alone was bothersome by itself, but with four other guys, three who obviously had done very little travel like that, was quite the task. He was certain that whoever was running the facility knew that they had escaped into the vents and were closing in on them.

"They'll be coming soon," Sora told the others. "We need to move fast."

"I agree with the new guy." Kid Flash stated as he pulled his goggles over his eyes. "So just sit back because I have room to run."

Before anyone could say anything, the boy in yellow and red dashed off quickly up the stairs. Sora, along with Aqualad and Robin, ran after the speedster, stepping over some smaller unidentified creatures that Sora had yet to see until then.

"This way!" Sora heard Robin call over the sound of an alarm.

The next minute came as a blurry rush for Sora. His goal, his main goal, was to escape and he knew that the floor that they had just reached would either grant him this goal or keep him trapped inside of the hidden levels of the building. And as he and the others dashed for the end of the hall, he noticed that his need for escape had pushed him in front of Robin; Kid Flash being the only one out-speeding Sora at the moment.

But just for that moment.

Spotting the large panic wall sliding down to prevent escape, Sora used his teleportation abilities to appear on the other side of the wall.

 _'Freedom…'_ Sora thought with relief.

Turning his head, he saw the wall slam firmly into the floor, a thump being heard moments later that was undoubtedly Kid Flash smacking into said wall. Staring at the wall, Sora realized that the sidekicks were on the other side, stuck there. He, however, was free to leave and finish what he was called to do.

There was no pay in saving the sidekicks. Plus, their mentors were sure to come to their rescue. So he could just walk up the last flight of steps onto the first floor and walk right out of the door. He could finish what he was paid to do and leave it at that. Or he could save the four he had left behind from whatever fate they may experience.

Sighing, the young Japanese-born teen looked up at the ceiling and recollected his earlier thoughts. It was always easier in the beginning. In the beginning he just had to find out some secrets about Cadmus Labs. Now he was left with this choice.

And he was going to have to live with it for the rest of his life too…

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 **Author's Notes:** And bam, first chapter. A lot of character info being dumped into the second chapter which is why I chose to cut it off here. The second chapter should be up sometime this weekend or Monday with new chapters coming out every other week. Again, this and Eli's story will not take a main concern until Arkham Rising is finished. However, because it's already been asked on the other story, I may do a one-shot of all three characters meeting if more people request it. Also, this story will have a review corner like the other two around three or four chapters apart. Anyway, after the second chapter of SG we'll jump back to the Jake Cross universe with the Artemis showcase and a new chapter of Arkham Rising. As always, for any thoughts, questions or comments that you have, leave a review or PM and I'll catch you later. Peace.


	2. Decisions Pt 2

Sora Gaiden

Chapter Two: Decisions Pt. 2

 _Cadmus Labs/ Washington D.C/ 12:56 a.m. /July 5, 2010_

It had been a long time since Sora had to worry about anyone else. Since then, he had thought solely about himself for one reason. Connection with others gave him weaknesses.

He could teleport short distances to escape if the situation called for it. However, his abilities did not allow him to always reach a loved one in time, nor did it help them escape with him if they were not physically touching him. Given that he could not teleport in rapid succession like Deathstroke had hoped for, Sora had gained the small fear of the very situation he was in now.

Saving others.

Lily's death was a constant reminder that he could not always save the lives of his loved ones. It haunted him daily.

If he had had been faster…

If his powers did not take so long to recharge…

If he didn't have any friends to kill in the first place…

All of these were thoughts that plagued his mind constantly. Thus, he spent most of his time away from others and honing his abilities. This proved to solve two things. It helped him develop his teleporting abilities and it also stopped him from losing anyone else.

'I don't have anyone to lose.' Sora's subconsciously argued. 'But… Maybe it's better that way.'

Those thoughts in mind, the team searched for the stairs that would lead him to the first floor. Escape was now the only important thing for him to do.

Walking away, the teen bitterly recounted the last events. He was still unable to teleport in rapid succession. Not only that, but he still could only "step" to his katana. What he refers to as a "step" is teleporting in motion and appearing at a single spot. In other words, if he was running and teleported without the use of his sword, he would appear in another spot moving in the same direction. However, while using his "stepping" ability, he could be traveling in one direction- such as falling down the elevator shaft- and appear in another place without any previous motion. Deathstroke had begun his training so that Sora could focus his energy on certain objects and appear at their side so long as the object was within a thirty meter range. To this day, his sword was the only thing that Sora could do so without the upmost effort.

'Why am I reminding myself of my abilities?' Sora thought quietly as he walked up the stairs.

The teen remained quiet, mentally and verbally, afterwards. Once again, escape was the only necessity now and he could do so better without drawing attention to himself. He needed his thoughts off of Lily and his abilities. He just had to focus and-

"…" Or he had a way out until a large gray monstrosity would come crashing through the floor with Superboy in grasp. "Of course…"

"You!" Sora lazily glanced to his left, seeing Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad. It was Kid Flash who sped up in front of the swordsman, anger apparent even with his mask on. "You were just going to leave us?! What's your deal?! Who are you?!"

Sora glared at the redhead. "I don't have to answer to-"

"Look out!" Robin's warnings were too late as Superboy's body crashed into the two, the three tumbling on the floor towards Robin and Aqualad.

After coming to a stop, Sora heard a growl escape Superboy's body and automatically agreed with its meaning. He did not like having someone thrown into him and he doubted Superboy enjoyed being slapped around like a rag doll.

Standing up, Sora glared at the large beast.

"We have to take that thing down," Robin announced. "Any ideas?"

"I have one! Argh!" With a feral shout, Superboy charged for the mutated man.

"Of course that's his plan," mutters the Boy Wonder. The black haired teen then looks at the other three to his right. "Anyone else have a better plan?"

"At the moment," Aqualad spoke, water-made blades forming in his hands. "My only plan is making sure Superboy isn't killed by this… Blockbuster project."

Sora had no idea what "Blockbuster project" meant but he knew that his only way of leaving in one piece was to beat this large thing; kill if necessary. This put things into a new perspective where escaping wasn't the major goal, surviving was.

Apparently, Kid Flash had those same thoughts as he zoomed for the large creature in the room. Sora was seconds from moving after him but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"If you can," Robin commented in a firm voice. "Don't kill him. Any of them."

Sora gives Robin a nod before his eyes caught the sight of Kid Flash soaring uncontrollably their way. Grabbing Robin, Sora teleported the two a meter in front of them, dodging Kid Flash's toppling body in the process.

"That…" Robin panted. "That was different."

Sora ignored the boy and ran for the beast battling Aqualad and Superboy. His sword was clutched tightly in his right hand as he picked his spot. Oddly enough, being assassin sometimes meant how not to kill your target. One learned how to fatally wound a person without ending said victim's life.

This was how interrogations worked.

With Superboy and Aqualad keeping the grotesque being occupied, Sora was able to make a solid cut across the calf of the transformed scientist's left leg. The swordsman was expecting to gain his target's attention now, however he was not expecting the reaction to be so sudden. A swift backhand knocked Sora backwards, his sword leaving his hand before he hit the ground.

Sora's small distraction did prove good enough for Superboy to land a solid punch on Blockbuster's jaw, forcing the large mutated man to stumble back into a support beam of the building. Aqualad soon came into the mix, knocking Blockbuster through the concrete structure with a large sledge hammer of water.

Growling, Blockbuster quickly got back up to his feet and recklessly charged for Aqualad. An evasive roll took Aqualad out of harm's way and allowed Blockbuster to run into another column.

"Hey KF! Over here!" Robin called out.

Sora ignored the yellow-clad speedster as he raced over to Robin while he grouped with Aqualad.

"I take it that you don't have anyway of stopping him, do you?" Aqualad asked the teen swordsman.

"No." Sora answered. "Taking out his legs seems harder than I thought. His muscles are ten-times denser than the average man."

Aqualad nods. "And he apparently takes little to no damage from our physical attacks. We have to try something different."

"What do you suggest then?" Sora asked.

"I believe Robin has a plan," Sora looked over to see the Boy Wonder and Kid Flash murmuring amongst themselves. "Which means that you, I, and Superboy will have to distract him until that plan unfolds."

"Do you really trust Robin's decision making?" questioned Sora.

"At the moment, any plan is a better plan." Kaldur replied for dashing off to help Superboy.

Sora stood still for a moment while Kaldur and Superboy currently battled the mutated monster. The swordsman glanced over to see Robin pointing at something, Kid Flash nodding in consent. His black eyes then turned towards the exit, still within sight. It was still an option.

'No. That's what he would do.' Sora thought as he turned his attention back to Kaldur and Superboy. 'Now how to cut this thing down to size?'

"Hey," the voice of Robin caught the swordsman's ear. "I have a plan, but I'll need your help. Do you think you can get Kid Flash out of the way before said plan potentially kills him?" The question had Sora blink in astonishment while Robin just gave him a stoic expression. "Come on. Time's wasting."

"Yeah." Sora answered.

"Good, now…"

As Robin explained his plan, Sora mentally pictured the play-by-play in his head while keeping an eye on the battle between the Superboy and Blockbuster. Kid Flash was currently speaking to Aqualad, most likely revealing the plan to him, which left the progeny of Superman to battle the monstrosity alone.

"Got it?" Robin's question was met by a nod. "Great. Now, stay whelmed and let's do this."

"'Whelmed?'" Sora echoed, his attention solely on the shorter boy next to him.

"Worry about that later. Let's go."

Sora made his move for his sword, running towards it instead of teleporting. After grabbing it, he dashed for Blockbuster, eyes locked in on his target. The beast snarled at the incoming boy while sending Superboy away with a simple toss. Sora made no move to catch Superboy this time while closing in on Blockbuster.

The strike from Blockbuster was dodged this time with Sora successfully clear to swipe his blade against the back of the larger being. Once more, he barely made a cut into Blockbuster and was forced to teleport when a turning back-fist nearly knocked him into the next room. Reappearing a few meters away, Sora glared at the enraged Blockbuster.

"Hey!" he called. "Come and get me, you incredible bulk!"

Blockbuster ran for his target. Sora timed his next move carefully, tossing his sword towards Blockbuster. With great agility, Blockbuster sidestepped the blade without slowing down. However, when the mutated man went to tackled Sora through the column behind Sora, the boy's body vanished once more and allowed Blockbuster to stumble through the stone structure.

"Wow," Kid Flash commented, making Blockbuster aware of the speedster. "I've seen faster drops of chilled molasses than that."

Growling, Blockbuster charged at Kid Flash. The redhead also waited for the last moment to effectively dodge the blow, another column being destroyed while Kid Flash zoomed to another one.

"Missed me!" Blockbuster went at him again, missing again. "Too slow!" Another in vain attempt followed. "Seriously, are you even trying?"

Sora glanced over to see Superboy and Aqualad knocking a column down each while Robin chalked an X on the floor. A second later, Robin looked up at Sora and gave him a nod, one that Sora returned before looking over at Kid Flash.

The redhead speedster zoomed towards the spot Robin was previously at, standing directly on top of the marker as water spilled on the floor around him.

"Alright, this time, I'll close my eyes." Kid Flash said as he covered his eyes. "Bet you still can't hit me."

Now Sora dropped his blade and ran towards Kid Flash, trying to beat the large Blockbuster to the speedster. If he could repeatedly teleport in quick succession as Robin had asked, then this would be easier.

…And maybe those he lost wouldn't be gone…

"Dude, anytime now!" Kid Flash called out as Blockbuster pounced for him. "Dude!"

Sora dove forward and tackled Kid Flash before the two vanished, appearing next to Sora's discarded blade. Meanwhile, Aqualad sent a charge of electricity through the water on the floor, electrocuting the monstrosity as Robin gave the signal.

"Move!"

Sora dashed off with Kid Flash, Aqualad hot on their heels. Their target was the exit as explosives went off. With the building collapsing on him, Sora realized that he had to escape this time. His thirst for vengeance would not end due to a botched idea.

"Get down!" Sora heard Superboy call out before the clone covered him and Kid Flash.

The loud rumbling noise of the demolition lasted for all of two minutes and then silence. The smoke could be seen just as clearly as the fire was only a few hours earlier. There were no signs of life in the rubble yet, until a large piece was thrown aside, Superboy and Aqualad rising.

"We… We did it…" Aqualad panted.

"Was there ever any doubt?" an exhausted Robin replied before holding his hand in the air. Kid Flash exchanged high-fives with the Boy Wonder, only for the two to recoil in pain.

"Wait," Aqualad said, his eyes searching the ruins around him. "Where is the other guy?"

The four boys looked around, unable to find Sora. Injured, they began to dig through the debris, fearing the very worse as they ignored the knocked-out mutated Dr. Desmond under several large slabs. So caught up in their search, they were unprepared for the arrival of their mentors.

"This is so not whelming…" Robin muttered. "We are dead…"

The arriving Justice Leaguers looked around the destruction. No one said anything as Superboy cautiously made his way to Superman.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked.

Kid Flash shook his head. "He doesn't like to be called 'it'."

The Dark Knight glared at the speedster.

"Talk. Now."

* * *

 _Sora's Apartment/ Metropolis/ 11:20 a.m. /July 5, 2010_

His body ached but not to the extent that it probably should have. He has miscalculated his last jump and wounded up barely making it out of the demolition zone. The swordsman was still hit by the force of the collapse, stumbling forward into the street before being able to teleport away before someone got a good description of him.

Two train rides later, he was comfortably lying on the mattress in his bedroom, praying to get some more sleep. However, he currently could not.

'Someone wanted me to go to that lab last night.' Sora thought quietly. 'There's only one man who could have done that… Slade.'

It only made sense in his vengeful mind. His former mentor- his _captor_ \- was out to either gain some sort of control over him or kill him. Both of those scenarios were unfavorable to Sora so he lied quietly in his rundown apartment in Suicide Slum (Southside Metropolis), thinking of how to avoid that situation again.

'First, no more missions over the phone.'he noted before a knock came on his front door. 'Damn it.'

Rising, the teen walked barefooted towards the door, making sure he memorized where his sword was just incase he had to fight or escape.

"Yeah… What?" he opened the door to see no one. Frowning, he turned on his heels, only to see Batman standing in his living room. "…"

"Sora Takashi," Batman stated. "We need to talk."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Finally! Here is chapter 2 to SG. As always, thanks for reading. Working on the third chapter to get it out as soon as possible, as well as finishing up TMoaH's next chapter. Some more backstory will happen next chapter but until then, leave a PM or review for any thoughts, comments, or questions and I'll answer when I can. Peace.


	3. Swordsman in Happy Harbor

Sora Gaiden

Chapter Three: Swordsman in Happy Harbor

 _Sora's Apartment/ Metropolis/ 11:06 a.m. / July 18, 2010_

Sora stared at the woman that was currently in his shabby apartment. She had been his "mentor" these past few days or so that's what Batman called her. He had, in so many words, informed the Dark Knight and the woman present that he needed no tutor or mentor in the art of combat but they were having none of it. So he was here with his glorified baby-sitter as she gave him the same analytic look over as she always did in the morning.

"Sora," The woman said. "Batman has instructed me to lead you to the Zeta-beams where you will be reintroduced to the Team. But before then, I must ask how you are doing."

Sora scowled at the words. He had been followed constantly by the swordswoman currently present and now he had to be pitted with sidekicks. None of them could give him the skills or knowledge to defeat Deathstroke nor did they have the power to do it themselves. Worst, they wanted him to bond with the sidekicks.

' _It's only until I find out where he is hiding.'_ Sora thought to calm himself down. ' _Once I find where Slade is, I can avenge my family and leave the sidekicks and their little club.'_

"I'm fine." Sora droned out.

"You look tired." Sora shrugged his shoulders, his eyes going elsewhere. "The nightmares… Did they return?"

"What do you think?" was the boy's response. "Can we go now Tatsu?"

The woman, Tatsu Yamashiro, crossed her arms with an exasperated sigh. She honestly had better things to do than to babysit a teen who wanted to seclude himself from the rest of the world. Yet, for obvious reasons, Batman felt as if that Tatsu would be able to connect with Sora better than anyone else on League payroll; if there actually was a payroll.

"I must make sure that you are ready before we get to the Cave. Batman has entrusted me to make sure that you are at least a team player and your nightmares further complicates things." The heroine known as Katana spoke. "That, and your lone-wolf personality…"

Sora glowered at the woman. "I don't want to do this. I don't _need_ those _sidekicks_ stopping me from getting my revenge. They'll just slow me down."

"You do know that the alternative is being locked away until we feel that you are indeed not a spy for Deathstroke, right?" It had been a fact that Batman so gingerly brought to light and Katana did nothing but reinforce it. "Besides, giving your current swordsmanship, I wouldn't be surprised if you could learn a thing or two from Aqualad in patience."

Another fact that Tatsu constantly reminded the teen was that she was the far superior swords user between the two. She has pointed out that the teenager was proficient at using his blade but was far too narrow-minded to successfully drive off a tougher opponent. Tatsu credited Sora's tunnel-vision to his need for vengeance and that one day, possibly sooner than they wanted, it would drive Sora to do something incredibly stupid and get himself killed.

"I know," Sora scoffed. "Can we go now?"

Tatsu glared at him. "Not until you tell me that your nightmares won't have any effect on your performance. Your options: Tell me now or tell Batman later. Your choice."

Sora balled his fists up before calming down. He did not have the best relationship with the Batman, and he dared someone to blame him. The Dark Knight takes it upon himself to just appear in Sora's apartment whenever he damn well pleases and leaves before Sora could even give a proper argument. Plus, the bastard had refused to train Sora solely on the grounds of Sora gaining the skills to kill Deathstroke.

"It wasn't anything new," Sora finally relented, now avoiding eye connection. "Just the night that… You know."

A hand was placed onto his shoulder, his black eyes meeting Tatsu's brown ones.

"Sora, listen to me carefully," Tatsu said calmly. "Your thirst for vengeance will lead you down the wrong path, a path that will someday cross Deathstroke or worse, me. I don't make it a habit of taking down children who I'm supposed to be babysitting." She gave him a firm glare. "Don't be the first of a very short list."

The teen released a low groan in the back of his throat but did nothing else. He did not like Tatsu but he respected her abilities. Teleporting would only get him so far if he ever got hit by her Soultaker blade.

"Come on," Tatsu said. "We do not want to keep Batman waiting. The last thing we need is for him to be angrier than usual."

Sora frowned. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"…It could be."

The teen only strapped his blade on his back. While he did not smile, he did find the statement slightly humorous. It made the day less annoying than it actually was; humor. That is, humor made the day less annoying _until_ he was surrounded by annoying weak sidekicks.

And then hell would most likely break loose.

* * *

 _Mount Justice/ Happy Harbor, CT/ 11:21:18 a.m. / July 18, 2010_

"This is the Cave,"

Those words meant very little to Sora as Katana led him away from the Zeta-Tubes in the center chamber. He eyed the large holographic computer and noted that this is probably where they either monitored things around the world or was given instructions on a mission. Being freelance, he knew that computers were used for two general things; contact and obtaining the information necessary for a mission.

"This way," Katana instructed. Sora followed obediently, his eyes taking in all the sights that were around them. "I was told that the kitchen here is fully functional and normally stocked. It beats your cabinets by a mile."

Sora grunted. "How is that important to anything?"

"You are joining an undercover team for a man that found you an hour after he figured out who you were." said Katana. "Do you really want to be the one to tell him that you blew a mission because you were hungry?"

'Not really.' Sora thought though remained verbally silent. He was unsure just how Batman found out his identity or his home in Metropolis but he knew that if Batman could do so with little time, Deathstroke was probably on his trail.

The pair entered where Sora figured was the living area. It looked like an entertainment room and a kitchen put into one. He broke away from Katana and drifted towards the kitchen…

…Until a green-skinned girl appeared from behind the counter with white powder on her face.

"Hi!" Sora nearly beheaded the Martian right then and there. Thankfully, Katana had placed a hand on his shoulder to stop any reflexes that he may have had. "I'm M'gann! You can call me Megan! We were waiting for you!"

Sora gave Katana an annoyed glance, the masked woman shrugging her shoulders in response. He did not want to be here. Hell, _she_ did not want to be here. However, the deal with Batman forced Sora to be here and Katana to at least visit twice a week.

"Um… Are you alright?" M'gann asked, her amber eyes going back and forth between Sora and Katana.

"Introduce yourself." Katana spoke.

Sora grunted. "Raijin. You don't need to know my real name."

"Oh…" M'gann said. She was able to pick up the vibe that her new teammate obviously did not want to be there, almost like Superboy, but worse. "Well, I was just putting some cookies into the oven. I could show you around and introduce you to the guys. They're at the beach."

"That would be nice." Katana said as she turned around. "Don't let him have too much sugar, he gets hyper. Oh, and his name is Sora."

 _'Bitch…'_ Sora thought, M'gann gasping the second it ran through his mind.

Sora looked at M'gann for a moment. He had never met a green-skinned girl and did not know what her abilities could be, but if he had to guess he would have to assume that she heard his thoughts. And while he did not want to assume the wrong idea about her, the swordsman knew that his reluctance to live in this place would grow if he had a mind reader walking about. Worse, a mind reader who did not respect boundaries.

"I'm sorry!" M'gann abruptly apologized, bowing her head slightly. "I… I'm not from around here and where I'm from, we communicate telepathically. The guys were telling me earlier that it's wrong but I-"

"Just stay out of my head." Sora interrupted. "Where is my room?"

"Oh, um, this way," M'gann answered. "Follow me."

The girl flew over the counter and landed softly in front of Sora. The boy did not seem to mind, flying humans- or whatever M'gann was- was nothing new to him. Deathstroke had tracked them all down before, and he was there when it happened.

"So… I heard you can teleport." M'gann attempted a conversation. "Robin says that you are good with a sword. Kid Flash agreed." Sora shrugged a shoulder. "You don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll like the others." M'gann said hopefully as she led him to the room she was instructed to show him. "So are you going to be staying here full time?"

"…"

"Superboy, Kaldur, and I will be here all the time. We could use an extra face."

"…"

"They said that we'll have cable and food and-"

"M'gann."

"Hmm?"

Sora said nothing else, politely shutting her up without actually having to say so. He was already annoyed by Katana, he would hate to turn his aggression out on someone who didn't deserve it.

"Well, here we are," M'gann said stopping in front of a door. "This is your room. My room is a little further down and Kaldur's is right across the hall." She then eyed Sora. "I know you want to be alone so I'll leave. The cookies should be done soon though. Have some, okay?"

Sora did not respond, just going into his room and closing the door behind him.

 _'I hate this place already.'_ he bitterly thought with a sigh. _'At least it's bigger than my bedroom.'_

The boy made it to his bed and dropped his bag on the floor. Sitting on the comfortable bed, he looked around the bedroom. This was how his time with Deathstroke began. It was a nice hotel room with a fancy dinner afterwards. The mercenary bluntly told Sora that he had killed Sora's parents because they attempted to change the deal after the job was done. Deathstroke wasn't lying, Sora's parents had left out a key piece in their original agreement, but the price that the mercenary wanted afterwards far exceeded the extra work he put in.

Needless to say what happened next.

A knock came on the door, causing the swordsman to look at the door.

"Hey," From voice alone, he recognized it to be Robin. "Wanted to know how you're doing."

"Fine," Sora returned in a flat voice.

"Right, right," said the Boy Wonder. "Hey, we're going to go out for a spin on Megan's bio-ship. Wanna join us?"

"Yeah," A new voice, Kid Flash's, came in next. "But hands off of her! I saw her first!"

Sora rolled his eyes lazily. "Go away."

"Dude, are you serious? We have the whole place to ourselves and-"

"Go. Away." Sora's voice had taken a noticeable darker tone, stopping Kid Flash dead in his tracks.

"C'mon KF, let's give the guy some space." Robin said. "Hey, M'gann left you some cookies in the kitchen. You'd better get them before KF comes back to finish them off."

Sora scoffed quietly. He didn't care about any cookies. He didn't care about the people present either. What he wanted, what he _dreamed_ , was to avenge the deaths of his family members and friends. A group of sidekicks could not get him that.

Silence soon came and Sora was more than relieved. Batman said that he had to stay in the Cave- he never said that Sora had to actually become friends with the sidekicks. So if Sora had to remain in his room until the others left, like now, then he would do so until Deathstroke was dead and he could move on with his life.

Yet, to be sure that he was all alone, Sora remained in his room for a few more minutes before quietly stepping out.

 _'This place is bigger than I expected.'_ Sora thought as he walked farther down the hall. _'Quieter too without those sidekicks.'_

The teen found his way back to the kitchen, his black eyes scanning the area carefully. He saw the plate of cookies left on the counter; chocolate chip from what he could tell. He neared them quietly, still searching around for anyone or anything. Slowly and silently, he took a warm cookie into his hand and brought it to his lips.

The boy paused. How ironic would it be for him to be belittling the abilities of the sidekicks and they are the ones who take him out with a chocolate chip cookie?

Sora bit into the cookie and sighed. Surprisingly, the Martian knew how to bake a cookie. But Sora was not interested in her baking skills. He was more or less interested in how long he had to stay here with the others. Once again, he did not care about who they were, just if they were strong enough to help him kill Deathstroke.

And they weren't.

First off, there was Robin. Sora had heard the boy's skill from Deathstroke time and time again to the point that Sora assumed that he was going to have a partner outside of Slade's recently estranged children, Grant and Rose. Sora knew that from skills alone, Robin was his best asset and could potentially find Deathstroke's whereabouts.

Next was Kid Flash. Sora knew nothing about the guy other than he was fast. And upon meeting him in D.C, he realized that the speedster was quite talkative as well. Despite this, Sora felt something strange about Kid Flash. An attraction, not like a physical or emotional one, that caused Sora's body to tingle when the two touched. The last time Sora felt a tingle like that, Slade told Sora that his powers were mutating, allowing Sora to travel farther, faster. To Sora, it just felt like lightning running through his veins in the most addictive manner.

He next thought about Aqualad. The guy seemed level-headed for the most part, though that did necessarily make him useful. Sora also knew that the guy could control water though he did not know whether it was through Aqualad's mind/will or through other means.

Sora then assessed the Superman clone- Superboy he remembers hearing earlier. The guy was headstrong, Sora figured, more so than any of the other three guys that Sora had helped back at Cadmus. Other than that, Sora assumed that Superboy could do everything Superman could. Well, except fly. Sora remembered clearly as the clone began to fall in the elevator shaft instead of flying out.

And then there was the new girl, M'gann. Sora knew absolutely nothing about the girl other than she could read minds and could bake cookies. One of those talents could actually help him against Deathstroke. The other was baking cookies.

By now, Sora had finished three cookies and was walking into the kitchen to find a cup or glass for something to drink. So this was the life of a corporate saboteur. While the teen was not necessarily broke, per se, he did not make as much money as the veterans in the business. Most of his payment was saved for a later day but there were moments when bills had to be paid then and there.

Thus, he took a job the find out something- anything really- about the Cadmus Labs in DC. That led him to meet the sidekicks which revealed himself to the Justice League. The job itself was supposed to be easy and yet it grew to the complications that were that large gray monstrous thing that he had battled before escaping.

And now he was here, in a cave, eating cookies, with freaking sidekicks. Sora scoffed. He was a warrior of his clan who had traveled the world with Deathstroke the Terminator. And he was eating _cookies_ baked by some jubilant alien.

 _'Ally wouldn't believe it.'_ He amusingly thought as he fished a canned soda out of the refrigerator.

The silence gave him a familiar feeling of loneliness which caused him to take his drink out of the kitchen to find his room once more. This loneliness was welcomed to Sora greatly as it told him that he was, in simpler terms, alone. No one was watching him. No one wanted to use his abilities for their personal gains. There was no one but him. And that was a pleasant thought with the knowledge that some highly trained assassin was searching for you.

Sora casually thought back to a time when he was not alone though. A time when _he_ was there with Sora…

* * *

 _Hideout/ Calgary, Alberta/ 01:34 p.m. / January 24, 2005_

At eleven years old, Sora Takashi had already seen the deaths of his parents and relatives first hand. He had traveled, illegally, to foreign lands where he was taught some of their languages and customs. But none of that mattered as he endured the cold Canadian winter next to a fire snapping in the fireplace. Cold winters were nothing new to him but it did not mean that he did not feel it.

Hell, coldness was the only thing he felt now…

"You should eat," the masculine voice behind him said. "After the storm passes, we're going to make our move."

Sora releases a quiet "Hai" beneath his breath but does not move. His body stayed bundled under the blanket that was draped over his shoulders, his knees pulled against his body. His sword lied next to him on the woodened floor, still covered in the elk's blood that he had slain earlier. The same elk that he was being made to eat.

Footsteps caused Sora to look to over his shoulder as the white-haired man approached him. The man's face was sympathetic, or as sympathetic as it could be, without removing the firm stare it always held.

"Sora," Slade said to the boy. "You need to eat. Your abilities won't work without some substance. And I doubt I could conduct enough electricity to energize you here…"

This was Slade's way of telling Sora that the boy still had his uses and Slade was not done with him. He took care of him just to use him. It was a bittersweet deal as Sora was never hungry. And Sora was never really alone.

Grabbing his sword, Sora rose to his seat and allowed Deathstroke, who was somehow in a plain t-shirt and _shorts_ in this freezing weather, to a small table where three plates of food rested.

"Rose," Slade called. "Come. Dinner is done."

Sora growled as he sat in an empty chair. Rose Worth appeared from the backroom in her long sleeve shirt and pants. Her disheveled hair only proved that she had been asleep prior to her father calling her. Sora, however, did not care about what Rose was doing before as the one-eyed girl trotted towards the table and sat across from him.

The two glared at one another. While Sora's English was currently not the best, he had been around with the white-haired girl to pick up one phrase and say it flawlessly; "I hate you." And he hated her as much as she hated him.

"You two," Slade said. "Eat. It won't do either of you any good if you try to attack each other and I have to put you out."

Rose gave her dad a pout. "Why is he here? He smells funny."

"He just killed a deer so that you can eat. You owe him, Rose." Slade replied to his ten years old daughter. "And to him, you smell funny.

"But-but-"

"No buts Rose," said Slade. "Eat your food." The girl sighed before doing just that. Sora gave her a look of pure hatred before Slade got his attention. "Sora, eat. Don't make me force feed you again."

That got Sora to eat while Rose gave her roommate a smirk. The food was not bad. For all of his crap, Slade knew how to cook. Not on the levels of a highly trained chef, but enough for a kid who had to survive on the run to actually look forwards to dinner.

"You two need to listen to me," spoke Slade. "Like it or not, we have each other and we'll only have each other. So you'd best to learn how to work together or learn how to face the world alone."

"Why Daddy?" Rose questioned.

"Because," Slade answered. "The world, the _real_ world, is after kids like you two. Kids with abilities that they consider dangerous. They will jail you. They will enslave you. And in the end, when you've served your use, they will kill you." Slade gave Sora a glance. "People always kill what they cannot understand."

"I don't understand Japanese…" muttered Rose.

"Then you'll learn. Just like Sora is learning English." Rose grunted quietly at the thought. "Like I said, we are all we have now. So we'd better get used to it."

Oddly enough, this was actually the last group of people Sora saw as family…

* * *

 _Mount Justice/ Happy Harbor, CT/ 11:35:18 a.m. / July 18, 2010_

Sora blinked out of his thoughts. He was now just standing in his bedroom with soda in hand. Memories such as that one normally snuck up on him, haunting him of the past he tried so hard to forget. He hated to think that Deathstroke, despite killing his family, took care of him thereafter. The man had homed, bathed, and taught Sora a great deal.

Still… Sora had to kill him.

"Sora!" The voice of M'gann reached him. The boy grabbed his sword at her frantic call and ran out of the room. He found Miss Martian through the living quarters. "The boys…! They need you!"

"Me?" Sora questioned. "Why me?"

"Because… I don't work well with them." Sora was more confused at her words, dismissing her saddened appearance altogether. "I can take you there, but we have to hurry. They don't have much time."

"I don't-" were the only two words he could say before the Martian flew towards him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him away. "What are you doing?"

"If you don't help them… They might die." Miss Martian stated. "I tried to help but I only made things worse. You helped beat Blockbuster with them. You can beat this guy as well."

Sora grunted. "And why can't _you_ do it?"

"Because when I tried, I only made things worse." Sora sighed at her explanation. That was a very good reason to get help in his eyes. It always worked for Rose. "So will you help?"

"Tell me everything about this guy." Sora stated.

"Alright. So it all started when we decided to go on a joy ride…"

* * *

 _Happy Harbor, CT/ 11:39 a.m. / July 18, 2010_

Robin groaned as he struggled to stand. Their plans did not work. Their plans did not even slow the android down. And he, the most experienced of them all, could not think of a safe way to get them to retreat. Superboy would not just back away and Aqualad would not leave Superboy behind. Worst, he had sent Miss Martian away.

No, _they_ had sent her away.

"Well," Kid Flash spoke with a small smile. "This isn't exactly how we planned on being a part of the Justice League."

Robin sighed as he helped his friend to his feet. "No. But we're not done yet." As soon as Robin finished, Superboy's body topples towards them. "…"

"You were saying?" Kid Flash questioned.

"I fear that we are over our heads." Aqualad stated as the four regrouped at the shoreline. "I hope that Miss Martian actually called for help."

Robin nodded. "Ditto…"

The four boys grouped together as the android known as Mister Twister hovered above the water in front of them. Clouds began to form over the bay as the red robot glared down at them.

"I grow tired of you pests." Mister Twister bellowed. "Now I will destroy you before finding Tornado and doing the same to him!"

"Let them go."

If there were ever a time to be thankful for having an aerokinetic robot, this would be that time.

"Red Tornado!" Kid Flash and Robin exclaimed.

"Miss Martian must've told him in time," Kid Flash added. "I knew she'd be helpful."

Mister Twister released a snicker. "Ah, Red Tornado. So glad that you could finally join us."

 _'Guys,'_ Miss Martian telepathically reached to her four male teammates. _'It's me, Miss Martian!'_

 _'I thought we agreed not to do the mind reading thing?'_ Kid Flash returned.

 _'Not a lot of time to explain. Just get ready.'_ Miss Martian responded.

Mister Twister held his hands towards who he thought was Red Tornado, twin funnels of wind blasting towards the alien in disguised. To the boys' surprise, the maneuvered worked and knocked Miss Martian backwards. Mister Twister pursued as he was more than ready to finish his opponent.

"You are pathetic," Mister Twister sneered as he stood over Red Tornado's body. "And now I can start the reprogramming sequence." Wires shot from Mister Twister's arms, attaching themselves to Red Tornado's body. "It shouldn't take long for the sequence to be completed."

"It should take longer than you think." M'gann said as she revealed herself.

It was at that moment that Raijin appeared, without costume, on Mister's Twister's back, hacking the cords that extended from the machine's shoulders. Mister Twister went to swat at the swordsman, only for him to vanish nearly as fast as he had appeared.

Robin's eyes went wide…

Kid Flash's jaw dropped…

Aqualad muttered, "Merlin's beard…"

And Superboy just blinked in surprise.

 _'Now!'_ M'gann commanded.

Kid Flash was the first to respond, running towards the descending Mister Twister. The self-proclaimed Fastest Kid Alive ran in a circle around his opponent, forming a sand-filled tornado of his own. Mister Twister attempted to blast wind of his own, unable to achieve much due to his damage cords.

"Up here!" Mister Twister looked up to see that Superboy was now free-falling with one fist cocked back.

The impact of Superboy punching Mister Twister into the ground was enough to disperse the wind funnel that Kid Flash had created. Superboy gave the armored being several of punches into his chest, the final blow knocking Mister Twister into to the bay.

Aqualad took that as his sign to attack. He dove underwater, taking the motor from a nearby boat with him. With a heavy swing, Aqualad shoved the motor into the chest of Mister Twister before sending a current of electricity. The resulting explosion sent Mister Twister flying back out of the water where Miss Martian raised him with her telekinesis.

"Now Sora!"

Once more, Sora appeared, his blade slicing the arms clean off of Mister Twister. The teen teleported in time for two red disc to lodge themselves into Mister Twister, the ending result being two small explosions that sent the menace onto the ground.

Aqualad was on the downed machine quickly with Superboy, he and Superboy ripping open the armor to reveal an unconscious man beneath the armor.

"It was a man in armor." Aqualad spoke as Robin neared him. "Do you know him?"

Robin shook his head. "No. But I'm sure that we can run a facial recognition and find out."

"Why was he after Red Tornado?" Kid Flash questioned as he zoomed next to Robin.

"Maybe we'll find out after…" Robin was stopped when he looked up at Sora. "Well look who finally decided to show. Nice to have you Raijin."

Sora gave Miss Martian a glance. "Are you sure?" The Martian nodded. "Fine then."

Aqualad's eyes widened as Sora raised his blade. "Raijin, don't-"

But it was too late. Before anyone could stop him, Sora drove his sword directly through the unconscious man's face. The other four males stood in astonishment before Sora ripped his blade away, electrical sparks and wires now being seen and heard.

"It was just a robot…" Kid Flash noted.

"Miss Martian," Aqualad stated. "We are sorry for not believing that you are ready. We should've listened to you." Aqualad then glanced at Sora. "And we are thankful for your assistance Raijin."

"Hn." Sora grunted. "Just don't let it happen again."

Robin was going to respond until he saw Kid Flash pick up one of the machine man's eye balls.

"What are you doing?" Robin asked.

"Souvenir!" Kid Flash responded.

"Come on," Aqualad stated as he looked around at the visible destruction caused by their altercation. "Let's go."

"Ditto."

"Right behind you."

"Fine…"

"…"

Miss Martian giggled at the other boys' response as she left with them. Robin was too eager to leave, probably used to always leaving a destroyed museum or such during his time with Batman. Kid Flash saying "right behind you" while dashing for the bio-ship was amusing. Superboy's mumble was hardly heard. And, once more, Sora had returned to a state of quietness.

 _'Sora,'_ M'gann sent mentally. _'Thank you.'_

He casted her a small nod and nothing more which made her smile. Maybe she would fit in after all?

* * *

 _Mount Justice/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 10:19 p.m. /July 18, 2010_

It was like watching some dance that they never showed on TV back on Mars. The way Sora moved his blade could be hypnotizing and dangerous intoxicating. M'gann was enthralled by the sword-play, the Martian girl watched Sora practice while Kaldur and Superboy had given Sora the privacy he apparently wanted. M'gann also wanted to give her new teammate privacy but she wanted to at least know _something_ about him which is why she wandered into the training room where Sora was.

"You're very good!" M'gann cheered.

Sora paused with a grunt. "What do you want?"

"Well… I wanted to talk." Miss Martian said. "Like… Where are you from?"

"Away."

"Do you have parents?"

"No."

"Did you go to school?"

"No."

M'gann sighed. "Will you talk with me?"

"I am."

His statement made her want to comically fall to the ground like on the cartoons she had seen before. It was easier talking to Superboy than Sora- and that was saying something! But, her attention was directed towards the swordsman as he approached her.

"Um," she began. "I'll leave you alone now. I know you want to be left alone and Kid Flash was talking quite a bit before he left. Must've been a sugar rush like Robin said. You don't have to tell me anything now. I can understand that you-"

Two fingers pressing against her forehead immediately stopped M'gann's words like he had just poked an off-switch.

"M'gann," Sora said calmly. "Shut up." He removed his fingers and moved for the exit. "You should get some rest."

"Will you ever tell us who you are?" Miss Martian questioned quietly.

"Maybe next time."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** I tried to get this out closer to MoaH update, but oh well. Anyway, here's more of Sora. His story, unlike my other two, will have flashbacks that will explain his character and actions throughout the tale. And there will be times when this strays from canon quite a bit due to his presence. Also, his relationship with M'gann/Miss Martian will not be a romantic one. Just a spoiler. And for those who do not know or got it confused, Sora Gaiden and Markings of a Hero will be here until October when I go back to Arkham Rising. So Sora and Eli now. Jake later. Anyway, if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments about the story, review or PM and I will respond as soon as it is possible for me to do so. Till then, peace.


	4. Mistah Santa Prisca

**Author's Notes:** Given my _incredible_ posting speeds I decided to post a longer-than-normal chapter. Next one should come sooner though. Sorry for the wait and enjoy.

* * *

Sora Gaiden

Chapter Four: Mistah Santa Prisca

 _The Cave/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 5:02 am/ July 22, 2010_

No one said a word as the Dark Knight glowered at the six teenagers. Each said teenagers were revealing their own physical reaction to guilt, none looking at Batman, Flash, or the Martian Manhunter. Given the situation, Batman knew why they were avoiding eye contact or glaring (Superboy and Raijin were at least) but he was also not in the mood.

This was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission. The Team was supposed to gain information and return. They were supposed to gain information in _Gotham City_ and return. They were _not_ supposed to go to Santa Prisca and they most certainly were not supposed to engage anyone of Bane's caliber.

But somehow they did.

Batman stared at the six individually before the group as a whole. If the situation was not as drastic as it was, he would have made a verbal note as to how they were grouped. The original three "junior partners" were huddled together, Kid Flash the farthest left with Kaldur to Robin's right. Next to Kaldur were Superboy, then Miss Martian, and finally Raijin was the rightmost. This group was as much as a teaching experience as it was a social one and, judging how the three former sidekicks grouped together and the three "aliens" were grouped (one was a legal alien, one was an alien from outer space, and the third a clone of an alien), it seemed to be working. No one really knew just how Superboy or Raijin would interact with the others but things appeared to be okay.

Now back to the problem at hand…

"What the hell were you thinking?" Flash questioned before Batman had the chance to ask the question in a more delicate fashion.

"Flash…" Batman muttered.

"Oh, right! Sorry Bats." Flash quickly apologized.

The Dark Knight turned his attention back to the children.

"Your mission was to gather intel about a drug being sold in Gotham City, _not_ go fight Bane in _Santa Prisca_." Batman firmly stated. "You not only disobeyed a direct order, but you may have jeopardized your entire team by revealing to them just who our covert team is."

Flash scoffed. "Not so 'covert' when they're blowing up factories."

"I would like to know just how you ended in Santa Prisca in the first place." Martian Manhunter voiced.

It was Robin who stepped forward. "It was-"

"No," Aqualad interrupted, a hand raised at Robin's direction. "I was made leader in the midst of the mission and therefore, it was my call to stay in Santa Prisca when things went wrong." The others turned to the quiet yet firm Aqualad as he stepped forward. "And I believe it was the right call to make."

"Explain." Batman ordered.

"Very well. It began during our mission to gather information in Gotham…" Kaldur began.

* * *

 _Gotham City, CT/ 9:11 pm/ July 21, 2010_

Sora was not a fan of his current predicament. He was currently at the docks in Gotham City, attempting to find some drugs with the closest teammate being Robin. His problem did not stem from the mission itself, more or less coming from the fact that he _had_ to do the mission. Katana called it "great bonding" and thus he didn't have a choice but to come along.

Coincidentally, him being forced to come along also meant that Superboy, who opted to stay back at the Cave with Sora, was forced to come along as well.

At least Katana and Batman had given Raijin a comfortable new outfit to patrol in. The dark cloud gray hakama pants and sleeveless gi-top of matching color were something of preference. The longer sleeved lightning blue shirt that he wore under the sleeveless gray top matched the kanji logo for "Lightning" on the back of the gi top. His feet protected by dark gray tabi boots. His sword was strapped onto his back and that was that.

All in all, it kept him warm, it kept him hidden, and it kept him comfortable.

 _"Aqualad to Robin,"_ Aqualad's voice came through the comm-links that they were each given. _"I have eyes on the package."_

 _"Good. Everyone, get ready. We should be done in no time."_ responded the Boy Wonder.

The mission was simple. They were to find out about a new drug being sold in Gotham while Batman dealt with something Joker-related down in Bludhaven. Robin was made the temporary leader of this mission due to the fact that he had the most experience in these sorts of missions and he was from Gotham City.

And so they broke off.

Aqualad was in the waters of the Gotham Bay, watching for the incoming illegal shipment. Miss Martian, Superboy, and Kid Flash were stationed at various points near the entrance of the docks to monitor who comes in and who leaves. Finally, Sora was to move with Robin, as they were the best in stealth, across the shipment containers to actually do the deal interception.

Though, there were problems with the divisions. Aqualad communicated the best amongst the group and yet was the furthest away from the situation. Kid Flash was more than likely going to get himself killed by trying to impress Miss Martian- who was more than likely going to get herself killed if she continued to worry about the only one of them that was actually bulletproof. Then there was Robin, who surprisingly spoke very little when he did his little disappearing acts, which could only be compared to Sora's lack of communication regardless of where they were.

All in all, there were a lot of holes in a game plan that was not properly discussed.

"Psst, Raijin," Sora gazed lazily at the masked acrobat on top of the shipment container with him. "Keep up. We're getting a closer look to this."

Sora was able to keep up with Robin, quietly moving along the tops of the containers. He had not been completely excited about this whole ordeal but there was something about this particular movement that gave him a nostalgic feeling- just in the wrong way. The missions he carried for Deathstroke that had him following Ravager somewhere.

"Hey," Robin came to a stop as he whispered. "Look down there."

Raijin peered downwards towards the two men that were standing on the paved road that divided the area. One of the men present was the guy Batman had stated was the buyer, a sleazy guy with his dark blond hair slicked back in a cheap three-piece white suit. Sora forgot the guy's name as he was originally planning to sit this mission out. However, that stupid pencil mustache was something from the briefing.

"When we get the product," The sleaze-ball said with a dry raspy voice. "Take it to the hideout. Keep it there until we know for sure what we can do with it."

Raijin glanced back up at Robin. Being a corporate saboteur, the young swordsman knew how tailing someone back to their headquarters (normally an office) gave them leverage. However, Batman had given them clear instructions to A) find out what the drug was and B) remove the drug and end the deal.

The dying engine of a motorboat caught both Raijin's and Robin's attention. Neither could see who was coming but they both knew that the deal was about to begin.

"Alright," Robin whispered into the comm-link. "The deal is about to take place. Everyone get ready. On my signal, we move."

 _"Yeah but,"_ Kid Flash returned. _"What exactly_ _is_ _the signal?"_

It was a fair question that was overlooked during the travel between the Cave to Gotham City. Of course, Miss Martian had been excited about the overall mission, so excited that she was mostly okay with everything that Robin said or did not say. Neither Superboy nor Raijin cared much about the mission, let alone the plan. And Kid Flash spent most of the plane ride to Gotham aimlessly and shamelessly flirting with Miss Martian. So it was completely understandable that the lack of communication had created this problem.

Sora saw Robin smirk. "You'll know when you see it."

Raijin glared at Robin. This was not the first time hearing that phrase. And something told him that it would not be his last either…

* * *

 _Seattle, WA/ 11:25 pm/ February 26, 2005_

Slade Wilson was quite the prideful man. And as such, he dressed his two "protégés" in outfits that heavily resembled his. Not that Sora minded. He knew that with this mission done, they could finally go somewhere _warm_. He'd settle for California or Florida but his hopes was that they would get somewhere with temperatures above the mid-30s.

The two children were currently hidden on the branches of a tree, quietly waiting, while wearing similar outfits. The only noticeable difference was that the black and orange mask that Sora wore had two eye-holes while Rose's only had one. They were currently observing the vehicles parked in the driveway that circled in front of the large mansion. Their target was a prominent businessman who held a decisive vote for AmeTek, a vote that went against their client.

"He's coming," Rose whispered to Sora. "Get ready for the signal."

"Your signal is what?" Sora questioned, his English still a work in progress.

Rose ignored him as they just stared out towards the front of the mansion. Soon their mark came out, escorted by five guards. They all climbed into the large black SUV that was to transport the man elsewhere so he could prepare for tomorrow's critical vote.

However, before the vehicle could be cranked, it exploded. Sora's eyes went wide as the fireball ignited the area.

"That," said Rose. "Is the signal."

"Kusō…" Sora whispered at the sight.

* * *

 _Gotham City, CT/ 9:21 pm/ July 21, 2010_

Raijin snapped out of his thoughts when three men approached the other two, two of the approaching men were obviously guards while the third, and smallest, man carried a silver briefcase. It didn't take a genius to know that the briefcase held the drug that they were supposed to return back to the Cave.

Raijin made a reach for his blade, but a raised fist and a shake of the head from Robin stopped him.

 _'Don't get too hasty. Need to know what it does.'_ Sora told himself.

The dealer, a man wearing a strange hooded red robe, practically glided towards the buyer.

"So… You want to… Try out… The new product, eh…?" The dealer had a slow speech pattern, almost as if he was on some unseen ventilator. Both Robin and Raijin found this to be an odd thing. "Where is… The money…?"

The dealer snorted. "A little too early for Halloween, right? I mean, what's with the robes? Ah, not my problem. Braun, show him the money."

The brute that was with the greasy man stepped forwards, picking a small black suitcase off of the ground. He held it opened to the dealer in the red robe to reveal the cash inside.

"Excellent…"

One of the hooded man's guards took the case of money while the man in the red robe sat the silver suitcase down and opened it. He pulled out a syringe and held it up.

"A sample…?" the dealer asked.

"Hell yeah," the buyer replied. "Braun, give him your arm."

Sora did not necessarily like that. The "get in and get out" plan was one that varied from user to user. Most people, such as Slade, knew what they were getting in to get prior to the mission. Deathstroke would never send Rose and Sora on these types of missions if he did not know what it was that they were targeting how long the optimum time frame was.

 _'He isn't Slade.'_ Raijin thought quietly as the dealer injected whatever serum he was carrying into the large guard.

"Well?" the buyer asked. "What the hell? I thought you said that this thing would give me an invincible army and…"

His words slowly died as his guard grew in front of them all. The injected man's skin grew gray, cuts and tears in it becoming more apparent the larger the man grew. The man's oddly green-tinted muscles ripped through rapidly repairing skin with strange tusks coming from the guard's mouth.

All in all, the large beast heavily resembled the Blockbuster that they had battled and defeated earlier, though with glowing green eyes.

"Guys…" Robin whispered into the headset. "I think we have a problem…"

 _"What is it? And what happened to the signal?"_ Kid Flash questioned.

 _"Are you and Raijin alright?"_ Miss Martian expressed her worry.

"We're fine," returned Robin. "But we have a little problem. And by 'little' I mean, as big as Blockbuster if not bigger problem."

 _"I am on my way."_ Aqualad stated. _"Remember last time. We need to-"_

"Yeah, got it," Robin interrupted. "We're totally turbing right now, right Raijin?"

"…" There was no real response to that statement. It was one thing that he had to learn regular English. It was another to have to learn this made-up version of the language that the Boy Wonder seemed to throw around.

A gunshot in the distance caused the transaction below, as well as Raijin, to look up.

 _"What was that?"_ Aqualad voiced.

 _"Kid Flash tripped in front of some guys. Covert over."_ Superboy answered.

Sora sighed. Of course this would happen. As much as he hated to admit it, Rose was actually the ideal partner. She was a pain in the ass and snarky twenty-four seven but she knew how to stay hidden and not goof up at such a critical moment on a mission. The only person this team seemed to have that remotely reminded Sora of the white-haired girl was Robin who was…

Raijin looked around for the missing boy, a familiar laughter heard in the background.

"Kusō!" Raijin growled.

Beneath him, the Blockbuster-like monster had tossed the two bodyguards that accompanied the buyer aside like they were nothing and was approaching the man in the robe. Sora quickly leapt down beside the man in the red robes and grabbed his wrist.

"Do I… Know you…?" Sora refused to answer, chucking his blade at the beast in front of him. When the monster actually side-stepped it, Sora teleported himself and the buyer to where the blade had landed. "Thank-"

Raijin ended the show of appreciation by hitting the man with the handle of his sword, effectively knocking him out. Batman said not to kill. He never said Sora actually had to be gentle.

"Hey," Robin called. Sora turned to see the acrobat dodging while strikes by the beast. "A little help here?"

Sora growled. "Baka…"

With sword in hand, Raijin ran into battle. Their top two heavy hitters- Superboy and Aqualad- were currently not present which left him alone with, arguably, the best fighter on the team. That did not seem so bad…

…except when that best fighter was currently flying backwards towards Raijin after being caught and thrown by the monster rampaging at the docks.

With a quick side-step, Raijin watched Robin tumble on the road before turning a leer towards the rampaging beast. The swordsman clutched his familial blade as Robin trudged back to him.

"Okay, his strength is alarmingly disturbing." Robin groaned. "He's stronger than Blockbuster. Faster too. We're going to have to do something different."

Sora agreed. Until the rest of the team arrived they were going to have to think of a way to put this beast down by themselves. Or, at the bare minimal, stall this fight out so that neither one of them dies in the midst.

"Alright," Robin quickly decided aloud. "I'm going to distract him. You see if we can't break him down like we did Blockbuster."

"Fine," Sora answered.

Robin took lead, heading for the monster. Sora ran behind his temporary leader with his sword drawn in his right hand. His eyes waited for Robin to make his move while keeping a track of the large beast ahead.

Robin leapt up, flinging three spheres at the monstrosity that released bright bursts of light. Sora was thankfully ducked his head in time to avoid being blinded as well and executed a baseball slide beneath the brute. Standing up, Sora quickly made a cut along the hamstring of the fiend only to watch the cut heal instantly.

"…" Sora just stared in surprise before backing away quickly.

"What happened?" Robin asked as he landed behind the swordsman.

Raijin shook his head. "He… Healed…?"

"Healed? That fast?" Robin's question was met by a nod from Raijin as the beast turned his focus to them and let out a feral roar.

It was then that the two noticed something quite disturbing.

"Is he naked…?" Robin asked.

"…yes…" Raijin answered.

"And that's his-"

"Dick," Raijin interrupted. "I know." Robin's head snapped to his teammate, causing Sora to frown behind his mask. "What?"

Robin shook his head. "Nothing. Just remember that we'll laugh about this some day… If you actually laugh."

Their small conversation was cut off when the drugged man dashed for them at high speeds. Raijin clutched his sword tightly, unsure if a fatal wound would be considered fatal here or not. The last thing he needed was a lecture from Katana about how killing should always be the last resort while Batman just did that annoying glare of his.

 _'I hate that glare.'_ Sora bitterly thought. Sora then looked to see that Robin had vanished once more. _'Not as much as I hate that!'_

At the last second, Raijin vanished and reappeared behind the charging beast unharmed. He turned quickly to see that the man had turned and was heading back for him. Raijin flicked his sword into the air and teleported to it. Now meters above the gray titan, Raijin raised his sword over his head and prepared for a fatal downward strike. He was not a sidekick. Killing was an option for him.

Or so he thought. Instead, his body stopped not even a full meter above the monster. Sora anxiously looked around before he was slapped by the beast into a metal container.

"Raijin! I'm sorry!" M'gann floated down in front of him as he picked himself up from the ground. The green girl's face expressed her worry. "I thought you were going to kill him and Batman said no killing so-"

Miss Martian's words died as soon as Sora's index and middle fingers touched her forehead. Her shoulders slumped as he removed his gloved hand.

"Don't worry about it." he voiced quietly as he turned to see Superboy battle the transformed thug. "Just help the others."

"Right, right," Miss Martian responded. Raijin sheathed his sword which caused her to look at him. "I'm really sorry Sora."

He did not answer her, choosing to teleport back to battle. This left Miss Martian alone to sigh one final time before flying over to where Superboy and the unnamed beast were battling.

Superboy slid backwards on his feet, his arms crossed protectively in front of him. That last blow from this thing seemed weaker than the earlier ones which was good. Indestructible or not, Superboy felt the blows that he endured and they were nothing to scoff at.

Kid Flash zoomed to his left almost in synch with Raijin appearing to his right.

"And this is why I don't do drugs." Kid Flash joked.

"There're no recreational drugs that have this side-effect." Superboy dryly responded.

Kid Flash exhaled exhaustingly. "You know, sometimes I forget that you're literally a walking encyclopedia."

Sora ignored the two as he saw the bleeding monster. His eyes narrowed behind his mask before he pointed.

"He isn't healing." commented Raijin, getting Superboy's and Kid Flash's attention. "The drugs must be wearing off. Or something else."

"Maybe-" Before Kid Flash could finish, the large gray titan roared in agony as electricity was seen dancing along its skin. It dropped to the ground, a round disc attached to its back with Robin standing with a victorious grind.

"And that's that." Robin said as the beast reverted to his human form. "So, how did you guys mess up hiding again?"

"Kid Flash showing off." Superboy thumbed at the redhead.

"Wait, wait, we're not going to talk about _me_ being caught when Robin and Raijin allowed _that_ to be made!" Kid Flash argued. "And where is Aqualad at?"

"I'm here." Aqualad said as he stepped towards them, dragging two unconscious men with him. "I have also done some intel-gathering. The drugs come from-"

"Santa Prisca. Way ahead of you." Robin cut off.

"Santa Prisca? Like, out of Gotham City, Santa Prisca?" Kid Flash said with a smile. "Do I hear a road trip coming?"

"No. We did what we were asked to do. We have the drugs, we know what they do, and we know where it's made." Robin stated. "So now we return back to the Cave. This is Batman's problem, not ours."

Kid Flash scoffed. "Sidekick much? We have a chance to do something that they overlooked _again_. Remember Cadmus? We completely had that under control."

"But Red Tornado and Batman will be angry if we disobey them twice." Miss Martian countered. "Robin's right. Maybe we should just go back and let them deal with it."

Sora looked at Kid Flash. He hated to admit it, but Kid Flash was right. A lesson from Deathstroke was to hit an opponent when said foe was expecting it; just not in the manner that they were prepared to deal with. People always looked out for Deathstroke the Terminator but not a one-eyed little girl and her seemingly mute Japanese friend. It was a lot easier for Rose and Sora to get closed to their prey than it was Deathstroke/Slade.

"Kid Flash is right." Raijin spoke, gaining a raised hand from Kid Flash though he did not return the high-five. "In a few minutes, whoever will most likely know that something went wrong. They're looking for Batman. Not us."

Aqualad crossed his arms. "Unfortunately… Raijin is right. They aren't looking for us."

"Are we sidekicks or are we a team of qualified heroes?" questioned Kid Flash. "Are we not capable of making our own decisions? Or do we need _Batman_ to do all the planning for us?"

Superboy grunted. "I don't need anybody telling me what to do."

Raijin knew what Kid Flash was doing. Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad had a deep hatred for the term "sidekick". Miss Martian had been all but banned from using that word within the Cave whilst Superboy and Sora really did not care much about their animosity towards the term. Judging from the frown on Robin's face, Raijin figured that the plan worked.

"Fine, we'll go. But here's what we'll-"

"Not to sound like a total douche but you had your chance. I vote for a new leader." Kid Flash said.

Robin scoffed. "Who? You? You couldn't stay hidden for _five minutes_! You'd have us all captured before we could get anywhere!"

"Uh, hello. Vibrating molecules? There's virtually nothing that I can't escape from." Kid Flash stated before leaning towards Miss Martian. "It's one of Flash's signature tricks that I learned in _half_ the time."

"It's a trick you still can't do because you'll get a nose bleed," mocked the Boy Wonder. "Besides, we need a leader to think with the right head, Kid Flirt."

"You are literally the worst wingman ever Bird Boy!"

"How about," Aqualad finally interjected. "We settle this on the Bio-ship? If we're going to do this we need to move now."

"Fine by me. What do you say KF?" questioned Robin.

"It was my idea in the first place!" Kid Flash returned.

Robin frowned. "Is he getting up?" Kid Flash looked at the knocked out Braun before turning back after hearing Robin's echoing laughter, the boy gone. "Gotta keep up Fastest Kid Alive!"

"I hate it when he does that." Superboy muttered.

Aqualad only sighed. "Come on team. We have a mission to complete… Hopefully."

* * *

 _Caribbean Sea/ 11:58 pm/ July 21, 2010_

The plane ride did not serve the purpose that it was supposed to. For starters, Kid Flash and Robin still argued about who should be considered leader. Miss Martian split her time with saying- what she perceived to be- embarrassing things to Superboy while trying to apologize to Raijin. Aqualad had attempted to stay focused but even he was growing a bit frustrated with the dysfunction. Finally, Superboy and Raijin had refused to speak much.

"Destination in twenty meters," Aqualad announced to the others. "Do we at least agree on the plan?"

Sora nodded but remained silent, looking at the other teens. It was a plan that Robin and Aqualad had come up with that no one outright argued against. Superboy voiced that he did not like sneaky around a lot and Kid Flash still inputted that he should be leading but no one disagreed with the actual plan.

"Activating stealth-tech," Aqualad voiced, activating the stealth-tech on his suit. "Raijin and I will place the motion sensors along the island. We will rendezvous with the four of you once you've located the factory. Remember, do not engage until we have met up."

"Hey, we got this, right Rob?" Kid Flash commented.

Robin smirked. "You know it."

"Fine. Raijin, are you ready?" Sora just nodded to Aqualad's questions. "Then we're up. M'gann, the door."

While it was not his first time, dropping out of a plane without a parachute had always bothered Sora. His fear came from teleporting and not stopping the momentum pre-space jump. While his sword had a nigh magical property that allowed him to teleport to it without any previous momentum, the training Slade had put him through so that he could get to that point was rigorous and Sora sometimes worried about relapsing to the time where he could not teleport without stopping his momentum.

But now was not the time to revisit old fears.

Aqualad was the first to exit with Sora dropping afterwards. The swordsman eyed the coast, picking his spot, before teleporting to the area. He made sure to give himself sufficient space between himself and the ground, allowing himself to hurl his blade into the stone cliff and "stepped" to his sword.

Now on the solid ground, Sora looked around the area carefully.

"No one in sight. I'm going to secure the perimeter. Come on up." Raijin relayed to Aqualad.

 _"I'm on my way."_

Sora spotted what appeared to be a sturdy branch and teleported to it. Testing the strength of the branch beneath his feet before resting his full body weight on it, Sora continued to scout the area. His black eyes were good enough to pick up on several things, as most people who had gone on scouting missions at night should, but overall saw nothing that drew his attention.

That is until his ears picked up a distant loud thump.

 _"Raijin, is everything still clear?"_ Aqualad asked.

"For now." Raijin answered.

 _"Team, does anyone know what that sound was?"_ was Aqualad's following question.

 _"Apparently Superboy has a rule: No capes, no tights, and no subtly."_ Kid Flash stated.

Robin came over the link next. _"It's fine Aqualad. We're just about move forward and search for this factory. Judging from the scanners, the chemical trace should be just east of our location."_

Sora just shook his head. _This_ is what he gets for working with sidekicks. He would settle for Deathstroke and his crazy kids but _no_. He got these kids.

 _'Everyone has a role to play. Even hostages.'_ Sora bitterly reminded himself of one of Deathstroke's more grim lessons. _'Do this and eventually Deathstroke will appear. Don't waste opportunities.'_

A small quiet "clink" caught Sora's attention. He looked back to the cliff to see that Aqualad had, not only scaled the cliff, but had placed what should be one of the last remaining four sensors. Leaping out of the tree and landing silently, Sora approached the temporary leader.

"They should be able to read our positions fairly easy now." Aqualad spoke quietly. "I just wish the others have an easier time than earlier. I don't want to fail as leader." Aqualad then gave Sora an even stare. "Why don't you want to be the leader of our team?"

"Kid Flash is annoying. Superboy is stubborn. Robin thinks too independently. Miss Martian is too merciful. You are best to handle this." Raijin explained before turning around. "We should move."

Aqualad followed the swordsman into the woods.

"Forgive me for my prying," Aqualad began. "But I'm curious… You are obviously a trained swordsman but I have never heard of Katana joining the Justice League or having a partner."

Beneath his mask, Sora cut the taller teen a glare out of the corner of his eyes.

"Katana didn't teach me. And I'm not her partner." Sora retorted.

"I'm sorry for assuming. I just… When she arrives, she seems to know a lot about you and you only speak to her in, what I can assume, is Japanese." Aqualad continued. "Your mentorship with her reflects the others. I'm sorry for presuming too much."

Sora did not necessarily blame Aqualad. As they walked around to place the remaining motion sensors, the swordsman realized that Katana did check in on him as much as Miss Martian's uncle did. In fact, Aquaman had only stopped by once (to Sora's knowledge) and it was a brief reunion with Aqualad to say the least.

"Robin probably should've led on this," Aqualad voiced. "He is more experienced in these sorts of things."

"I doubt that." Sora grumbled beneath his breath.

Aqualad glanced at his teammate. "You have done something similar to this before?"

"Don't worry about my past. It won't help us here." Raijin responded. "Besides, Robin isn't much of a teacher."

Aqualad frowned. "I don't understand."

"Katana teaches me advance swordsmanship. She communicates while knowing what I will or won't say. She is a teacher." explained Raijin. "Robin has yet to teach us his ways with Batman. He just disappears."

"Forgive me, but don't we all?" Aqualad returned. "We have yet to do a full team training and we still know very little about your and Superboy's abilities. All in all, we are more comparable to a bunch of kids running into battle than a team." Raijin looked at Aqualad. "It scares me to think that we may be getting over our heads without proper training or knowledge of each other."

"…" Sora remained silent as they walked on. There were a lot of things that he did not know about Rose and they worked pretty well together, even more things he did not know about Deathstroke and found the man the easiest (and most difficult) person to team up with. Then again, "bonding" with his former teammate, Rose, normally meant they were forced together due to some sort of physical restrictions that kept them in close quarters- or Slade telling them to stay put.

Aqualad sighed. "Maybe we should learn more about each other before the next mission? It would-"

Aqualad's words were halted when Sora's left hand quickly moved, his index and middle fingers jabbing Aqualad in the center of the Atlantean's forehead. The act, till this point, was only done to M'gann but held the same effect on Aqualad.

Sora removed his fingers and walked ahead.

"Don't expect me to share much." Sora said.

"Noted." Aqualad responded.

The two would remain quiet for the rest of their trek. Sora invited the silence with open arms. Tatsu and Batman may want Sora to bond with his new roommates but he did not necessarily have to. He just had to do the missions and not kill one of them.

Though that was becoming easier said than done by the seconds.

 _"Guys,"_ Miss Martian's voice ended the boys' silence. _"We need back-up. They're guys with guns. Big guns."_

"We're on our way," Aqualad answered her calling before looking at Raijin. "I have their coordinates. We need to move fast."

Raijin agreed silently. He followed Aqualad through the thick forest, going to where his teammates were. He glanced over to see the focus on the Atlantean's face. There were similarities between Aqualad and Deathstroke. They both had the same intense focus whenever the mission was on the line.

 _'He'll be a good leader.'_ Sora thought.

It wasn't long before the pair came to a group of unconscious masked gunmen.

"They must be just ahead." Aqualad assumed as the two jogged ahead with Sora gripping his blade. "Raijin, look."

Ahead, the duo could see Superboy brawling with yet another dauntingly large man, this one wearing a mask similar to those that the gunmen were wearing. Sora was seconds away from jumping into the fight to aid his teammate but a hand from Aqualad on his shoulder stopped him.

"Look," Aqualad whispered as he pointed to a pair of deceased men wearing a robe identical to that of the dealer. "There is another group here. The one supplying the drug and the one," A tackle and slam executed by Superboy had Aqualad pointing to the masked man in Superboy's grasp. "That we're currently battling."

"Hn…" Raijin responded. He knew what Aqualad was getting at, something he was very familiar with during his time with Deathstroke. When two people had the same contract and same goal, they either worked together or beat the hell out of the other to get the job done.

"And that," Robin said as he stared down at the restrained Bane. "Is how you get it done."

Kid Flash stepped towards the younger boy. "Would you stop running off? I nearly died trying to find you!"

"You nearly died because you _tripped_ and fell into two groups of armed men!" Robin argued back. "If it wasn't for my plan in defeating them-"

"Guys!" Miss Martian interrupted. "Raijin and Aqualad are back."

Sora shook his head while Kaldur simply sighed. Sometimes, it was hard to believe that Kid Flash and Robin were the closest of the group.

"What did you find out?" Aqualad asked.

"Before Kid Clumsy came into the picture," Robin began. "I overheard one of the groups talking about Kobra, a guy with his own cult that Batman ran into a few years back but I never heard of them being in Santa Prisca."

Kid Flash crossed his arms. "So who are these guys and why are they after Kobra? Or the drug?"

"What? You can't tell?" said the smirking Robin. "The guy we just took down- Bane- used to own Santa Prisca. He had his own thing down here that definitely wasn't Kobra and his goons."

"So you think the creepy robe guys kicked out El Luchador over there?" Kid Flash's question was met by a nod.

"So for now," Aqualad said. "We need to find where they are shipping the drug and put an end to it."

"Perhaps, I can be of assistance?" The group turned to Bane, who was sat up against a tree. "It seems that we have the same goal. I want Kobra out of Santa Prisca and you want to close his little drug trade."

"Whoa, we are _not_ working with him!" Kid Flash said. "He tried to kill us!"

"I know where the factory is. I know a secret tunnel that leads inside. You can go undetected." Bane offered. "We can take down Kobra. Or my forces will come in and kill you all."

"Why should we trust you?" Superboy questioned.

"El enemigo de mi enemigo es un amigo." Bane said with a mistrusting grin. "The enemy of my enemy is a friend.

Raijin looked over at Aqualad and Robin. This was supposed to be a simple drug-stop mission and now it was helping one bad guy take down another. Oh, and now their lives were on the line.

But he knew that vital information was also well needed. They were in unknown territory going against an enemy Robin has read about but had never faced. Not to mention their dysfunctional teamwork would most likely fail against anything if they were caught.

"Fine," Kaldur said after a moment of deliberation. "But I'll need to talk to my team about something."

* * *

 _The Cave/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 5:19 am/ July 22, 2010_

"Wait a minute," Flash interrupted the tale. "You just _trusted_ a guy like Bane like that?"

"Well it's not like we had much of a choice. His goons were on us not too long afterwards." Kid Flash responded.

"This has to be the dumbest idea that-"

"Before you finish," It was Raijin who spoke up, stopping the Flash. "We need to finish the story."

Superboy scoffed. "As if they care…"

"We had a plan." Robin concluded. "And to do that plan, we needed Bane to believe that we were just a bunch of kids."

"And it worked to our advantage." Aqualad stated.

Batman inhaled deeply, showing his discontent about the entire situation. Yet, despite his anger towards them- Robin especially- he was seeing some unity amongst them. They were currently standing together as a single team instead of the original sidekicks (Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad) versus the newcomers (Superboy, Miss Martian, and Raijin). Regardless of how they stood in front of him and the other two main leaguers, they were finally getting onto the same page.

"Continue." Batman demanded with an even tone.

"Wait, really? They could just write-" Batman held a hand up towards Flash before shaking his head. Flash seemingly got the message and remained quiet as Batman addressed the team.

"Continue." he said again.

"So, like I said, we had a plan…" Robin continued.

* * *

 _Santa Prisca/ 12:02 am/ July 22, 2010_

Raijin walked quietly with his team- minus Robin and Kid Flash- and Bane who was flanked by two gunmen. Superboy walked next to Raijin, the pair having the rear while Miss Martian stood closest to Bane. With Robin doing one of his disappearing acts and Kid Flash chasing after him, the others were forced to walk in awkward silence. The plan Aqualad and Robin had conducted was both ingenuous and risky.

Plus it gave them access to each others' minds.

 _'Robin,'_ Aqualad sent through their linked minds. _'Have you or Kid Flash gotten into the base?'_

 _'Yeah. Had to find our own entrance. That secret tunnel of his has some two-ton wall blocking it.'_ Robin responded.

 _'Good. Remember, we need proof and an exit route.'_ Aqualad stated.

 _'You guys just be careful. You're the ones with Bane.'_ Kid Flash came through.

 _'We'll be on our guard.'_ responded Aqualad. _'In the meantime, find out as much as you can without being spotted. We will handle Bane on our end.'_

 _'Just don't forget to be, you know, unprofessional.'_ Robin informed.

It was then that Superboy released a growl.

"How much farther until we're at this tunnel or whatever?" Superboy asked Bane.

"Niño impaciente," mumbled Bane before addressing Superboy. "The entrance is just ahead. If your teammates aren't in here than you should count them dead."

"Robin and Kid Flash are impatient and sometimes move without thinking," countered Kaldur. "However, they were more than capable of surviving on their own. All of us are."

"Let's agree to disagree on that…" Bane said before the group came to, what appeared to be, a wall behind some shrubbery. "Here we are." The large man tossed the metal door aside, revealing a mining tunnel. "Well, shall we go?"

"Finally." Superboy responded under his breath.

 _'Guys, we just made it to the tunnel.'_ Miss Martian informed. _'Are you two still hidden?'_

 _'You know it babe.'_ Kid Flash answered.

 _'It's creepy when you say it aloud but in my head too? Grow up.'_ Robin commented.

Kid Flash mentally scoffed. _'Says the so-mature thirteen-year-old who crawls through vents and downloads porn.'_

 _'Guys!'_ Miss Martian inputted with a shudder. _'Please. I can see your thoughts, remember?'_

 _'We all can.'_ Sora added.

 _'Stay focus,'_ Aqualad finally came through. _'The mission is almost over. We just need-'_

 _'Not quite,'_ Robin interrupted. _'We just found out that there is another buyer coming in tonight. And what they're selling isn't like what Dr. Desmond was making. It's also been combined with something called Venom, the stuff that makes Bane ten-times worse.'_

 _'Do you have any idea who the buyer is?'_ Aqualad asked.

 _'Not yet but we're going to have to leave soon. No telling who's going to be up here and sees that maintenance is knocked out.'_ informed Robin.

The conversation went silent after that. Raijin's eyes looked around the tunnels to see the aged support beams holding the ceiling up. He was unsure about being in an old tunnel with a brute like Bane. They were at Bane's mercy at the moment. None of them knew the tunnels like Bane and none of them had guns to take out the two guys accompanying them. They had to play along until the Robin gave them the signal.

And this time they actually had a signal to wait for.

Raijin's thoughts came to a halt when they came to a false wall. Quietly, Bane removed the wall and the group stealthily entered a large room that appeared to be the shipping area of the base. Raijin crept along with his teammates and Bane behind large wooden crates as the workers moved about.

"Miss Martian, Raijin," Aqualad whispered. "You two find out where this stuff is going and when. Stay hidden and don't get caught." Sora and M'gann gave their temporary leader a nod. "Call in when you know who and what is going on."

Bane glanced at the children. "Don't you think that you should stick together? You are children after all."

"Do what you must." Aqualad told Miss Martian and Raijin.

Sora grabbed M'gann's hand. The girl pulled her hood over head and gave her teammate a nod before they vanished. Aqualad looked at Bane.

"We wait on your call," Kaldur said. "Superboy and I are more than capable of taking down half of this place."

"And your comrades?" asked Bane.

"If they aren't here soon," Kaldur stated. "We should count them dead."

Bane released a quietly laughed. "I like you, niño. I like you a lot."

Sora and M'gann had returned to the tunnels where he had stashed his sword. Thankfully the two guys that had accompanied them with Bane had turned around, as Aqualad and Robin had suspected. Now the pair was backtracking with the thoughts of finding out what Bane was really up to.

 _'Guys, we're almost out of the tunnels.'_ Miss Martian relayed. _'Is everyone alright?'_

 _'Battle just started in the loading docks,'_ came Aqualad's quick and frantic thoughts.

 _'We're on our way,'_ Robin replied. _'Kid Flash ran ahead. I just had to do something first.'_

 _'Take your time. It's not like these guys are putting up much of a fight. I got all night.'_ Superboy stated.

Raijin held up a hand that caught Miss Martian's attention. They were soon staring at two of Bane's men carrying what looked to be a small open box with dynamites inside. The two pairs stopped and looked at one another. The two gunmen went to react at the sight of the heroes only for Sora to appear behind them a second later.

Miss Martian gasped at the quick scramble by the two men to do something about the, as Wally referred to him as, "teleporting ninja". She was not surprised that Raijin could hold his own against the two, she was a little stunned that he did so without making a grab for his trusted blade. And as soon as the second guy was disposed, she got her answer as to why.

"No kills, see?" His voice was heavily coated with sardonicism but M'gann took it.

 _'Uh, guys,'_ Miss Martian informed the others. _'We just took down two guys who look like they were about to blow the tunnels, Bane's men. What should we do now?'_

 _'You could always put on their clothes and pretend to be them. Bane won't know the difference, especially if you transform MM.'_ Kid Flash answered.

 _'Not necessarily the worst idea. But Miss M can't transform into guys, remember? Bane will be able to tell if she transforms.'_ Robin concluded.

Raijin looked at the two downed guards and then at Miss Martian. He could not formulate a plan in his head, that's where everyone was holding a conversation. Or at least, he couldn't do so in English. He was unsure if any of them knew perfect Japanese but that was all he had. With a connection that offered little to no privacy, this was the best plan ever.

Until Superboy interjected.

 _'Who is Ravager and how did she do what?'_ Raijin stopped his thoughts then and there, looking up at Miss Martian.

"I have a plan. Come on." Raijin instructed.

M'gann followed his order and walked behind the teen dragging one of the bodies away. The pair was soon outside of the tunnel where Raijin began to undressed the unconscious man.

"What are you doing?" Miss Martian asked.

"You'll be my victim." Raijin explained though that only fueled M'gann's curiosity more than it quelled it. "We were spotted by them. I ran off. You were captured."

"Oh…" Miss Martian voiced. "I get it now."

Sora removed his mask and handed it to her. "Now transform into me."

"Wh… What? You heard Robin, I'm not good at it. Bane will know and-"

Once more, M'gann found that a simple poke to her forehead could somehow kill all that she had to say while conveying his unsaid or thought message for her to shut up.

"We don't have a lot of time." Sora said as he began putting the gunman's clothes over his own. "Two gunmen catching a Martian is hard to believe. But you escaping to get a message to Batman while I was caught, believable."

"But you can teleport and you're good at your sword and-"

 _'Bane doesn't know what I or Raijin can do,'_ Aqualad interjected. _'He's right on this Miss Martian. Trust him.'_

 _'Just like Twister.'_ Sora thought to her.

 _'That's_ _Mister_ _Twister to you.'_ Wally jokingly corrected, gaining a group of groans from the others.

It took Sora a little more than a minute to successfully change into the other uniform, putting the mask on last. He glanced to see that Miss Martian was currently looking down at herself, already transformed into a Sora look alike.

"How's this?" she asked him.

"Mask." Raijin said. As Miss Martian covered her face with Raijin's wolf mask, the swordsman spoke again. "Stay quiet. I'll wake the other guard up."

 _'Make it fast. Bane is headed your way.'_ Kid Flash announced.

The pair moved quickly, waking up the second masked guard seconds before Miss Martian (as Raijin) portrayed to be unconscious nearby.

"Qué? Qué passo aqui?" the man asked Sora.

 _'I don't speak Spanish.'_ Sora mentally revealed.

 _'He's asking what happened.'_ Superboy answered.

 _'Good to know cause Kid Flash uses Spanish as a thirty-minute nap.'_ Robin sent with a small snicker in his thoughts.

"Martian got away. I got the swordsman though." Sora answered, trying to mask his accent as best as he could. "The Martian is contacting the League. We need to complete the mission."

"Si! Before Bane-"

"Qué demonios pasa aquí?" Bane's voice caused the second guard to quickly scramble onto his feet.

Sora and M'gann listened as the gunman with them explained to Bane what had occurred, in Spanish. Bane seemed skeptic about the whole ordeal until Sora pointed to his Martian doppelganger lying on the ground. Bane turned M'gann over, looking down at her.

"The quiet one," Bane said. "His friends are dying in there and he and the girl attempted to run? Pathetic." Bane looked at Sora and the other gunman. "Leave him and finish. By the end of tonight, we will destroy Kobra and those sidekicks with one strike. Vamonos!"

Sora quickly left with the other goon, placing the dynamite bundles in random spots as his counterpart was.

 _'How are you doing M'gann?'_ Aqualad asked.

 _'I'm fine. Bane tied me up to a post.'_ M'gann returned. _'How's everything in there?'_

 _'Buyer here. Robin's getting owned by some old snake guy-'_

 _'So. Not. Helping!'_ Robin interrupted Kid Flash.

 _'Oh!'_ Kid Flash continued. _'Superboy and Aqualad are going toe-to-toe with some huge dude who is totally destroying them.'_

 _'Not helping!'_ the collective thoughts of Kaldur, Superboy, and Robin came through, causing Sora to wince.

He continued his façade, taking a few dynamites with him before looking at his "partner."

"Está hecho," the other guy said. "Now let's move before Bane blows this place."

 _'Are you guys finished in there?'_ Raijin questioned.

 _'Sportsmaster is getting away and Kobra has fled. Superboy and Kid Flash will join you on Bane's front. Robin and I will take care of Sportsmaster.'_ Aqualad directed. _'But you have to stall for a while. Do not let Bane activate those bombs.'_

"We-"

* * *

 _The Cave/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 5:26 am/ July 22, 2010_

Their retelling was interrupted by the Flash's shout.

" _Sportsmaster_ was there?!" the speedster exclaimed. "Do you guys have any idea what could have happened? You could've died there."

"Yeah, well, we didn't know that Sportsmaster was going to be there until _after_ Sportsmaster arrived." Kid Flash replied.

"Besides," added Robin. "Our plan was actually working to perfection."

Flash looked amused. "Oh really? Then tell me how it ends."

"So," Kid Flash excitedly burst out. "Aqualad gets a hold of Sportsmaster's attention long enough for Robin to do one of his disappearing acts. Meanwhile, I had to run to save Raijin and Megan because they wouldn't be here without me."

Raijin, Superboy, and Miss Martian turned a bland eye towards Kid Flash. Robin shook his head while Aqualad resumed the tale.

"As Kid Flash said, Robin and I were able to plant a bomb onto Sportsmaster helicopter which only left stopping Bane. Raijin and Miss Martian were able to handle their own but we needed to make sure that Bane's plan was stopped as well…"

* * *

 _Santa Prisca/ 12:20 am/ July 22, 2010_

Raijin could feel his heart pounding as he stepped towards Bane. He was supposed to find a way to buy Kid Flash time to get here with Superboy. However, he was without his sword and unsure just how far behind Miss Martian was with it. He could feel that it was in his proximity, as he always could, but he was unsure that if he were to jump to it now that he would be safe on solid ground. For all he knew, M'gann could be flying towards him high enough so that Bane could not see her.

Until then, he was with a rifle with limited knowledge on how to use one (Rose was the gunner between them) and a man who could literally break in him half- _if_ the other gunmen didn't kill him first. He knew that his fighting skills were acceptable but nowhere near good enough defend himself against this group unscathed.

Suddenly, Bane reached out and grabbed Sora by the throat, hoisting him into the air.

"Estúpido!" Bane hissed as he gripped the flailing Sora tightly. "Did you think that I would not know that there was an imposter within my own group? Transform, Martian girl. You have already left your partner to die."

"N-No." Sora strangled out.

"It makes no difference. I will first kill your friends with this," Bane held out the detonator out with his hand. "Say goodbye Martian girl."

"I can't…" Sora said, gaining a strange look from Bane. "Because I'm not a Martian."

Raijin kicked forward, teleporting at the same time. Bane was unprepared for the foot to actually connect with his face- his eye, more precisely. The brute stumbled backwards, his right hand instinctively dropping the detonator to cover his eye. Raijin landed on the ground and watched as the gunmen pointed their weapons at him before each rifle was telekinetically snatched out of their hands and flew meters away from them.

"Raijin!" M'gann called.

Sora quickly teleported to her and grabbed his sword. The pair was now staring at five unarmed men and an angered Bane. The odds were more favorable now but there was still the problem with Bane.

 _'Did you move the bombs?'_ Sora asked M'gann.

 _'Gave one to Kid Flash to give to Robin. We're good to go.'_ Miss Martian responded.

"You think that this solves anything? I will still end all of this with a push of a button." Bane told them.

Raijin grunted, letting his discomfort about Bane holding the detonator show clearly. With blind rage he ran towards Bane only for Bane to press the detonator with a sinister laugh. The swordsman slowed in his step after the act was done, several explosions being detonated behind them.

 _'Well… Sportsmaster's helicopter just went down so I'm assuming that Bane bought it.'_ Robin sent to the others. _'Kobra escaped but I got to say, I'm concerted over the fact that something went as planned.'_

 _'Dude, I'm pretty sure that concerted is an actual word.'_ Kid Flash responded. _'By the way Megan, coming through!'_

Raijin watched as Kid Flash zoomed by, knocking the gunmen around Bane onto the ground as he sped by. Sora used the chaos around them to creep towards Bane. The brute was busy trying to swat at the speedster to pay much attention to Sora sneaking up on him. As soon as Sora was close enough he placed a hand on Bane's back.

 _'Now!'_ M'gann told Sora.

Sora teleported towards the Martian with Bane as an unsuspecting passenger. The two appeared in front of, not just Miss Martian but in front of a well-prepared Superboy. Bane was unprepared for the clear shot to his chin from the cloned Kryptonian, stumbling and tripping over the crouched Raijin behind him. Superboy was quick to mount the fallen and stunned Bane, delivering blow after blow until Bane tossed him away.

Kid Flash regrouped with Miss Martian and Raijin.

"Alright," Kid Flash said. "This is clearly the part where we leave, right? Or are we still improvising here?"

Raijin took his mask from Miss Martian.

"I'm working on it." M'gann said. "Just give it a sec."

Bane growled. "I will break you all and ship your parts back to your masters!"

 _'Close your eyes!'_ Aqualad's command came.

Three spheres flew in front of Bane's face before bursting into blasts of light, blinding the escaped prisoner. The large man stumbled backwards before being knocked backwards by a torrent of water. The muscular brute was able to gain his footing in time to feel small taps on his back. He turned to see a snickering Robin and Raijin.

"You should totally reconcert yourself." Robin commented before the pair teleported away.

Bane growled before the devices on his back released an electrical surge the forced the man onto his knees. He looked ahead of him to see the children responsible for his failed plan, a large red aircraft hovering above them.

"Hey! Thanks for the souvenirs!" Kid Flash called out, waving a mask from one of Bane's men in his hands. "This place is great by the way! Nice beaches!"

Bane said nothing as the kids simply vanished, obviously teleporting due to the swordsman. He slowly rose to his feet and took in a deep breath.

"Next time, children. Next time."

* * *

 _The Cave/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 5:48 am/ July 22, 2010_

At the conclusion of the story, the six teenagers exchanged glances with one another as Batman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter just stared at them. The room was filled with utter silence with the tension rising with every second. The silence was harsh enough until Flash puffed his chest out and slowly exhaled to alleviate himself of some stress.

"Sportsmaster was present. Bane was present. Kobra was present." Flash listed off. "You ran off into another country. You teamed up with an international drug-dealer. You destroyed some hidden drug factory. Oh, and you've robbed them of a uniform, mask included."

"Not to mention," Martian Manhunter continued. "That your mission was to stop a drug deal in Gotham, which you almost allowed to happen and fled before securing all the guys that were involved in it."

"Your childish need for a cheap thrill put you all in danger," stated the Flash. "And the funny part is you didn't have a plan _or_ a leader going into this! You could've died!"

The six teenagers collectively sighed before Kaldur spoke up.

"I was ultimately decided leader. It was my idea to stay. I take all responsibility for this mission." Kaldur said before glancing towards Robin. "Robin has a sample taken from the laboratory if you would like to examine it. It was the least we could after the mission was-"

"Successful." Batman's words caused all six teenagers to stare at the Dark Knight in shock. "No plan survives first contact the enemy. You were able to adapt and play on, not only your strengths, but your weaknesses as well. You out-played Bane and Kobra and were able to escape without a lot of harm. You also picked a leader during a time where one was needed."

"Yeah, do you guys know how many times we ran into a situation that changed before I could get there?" Flash jokingly stated. "Seriously, you did good. Besides, there was a bet amongst some of us saying that you would undoubtedly go find out where they were producing the drugs."

"I doubt we should teach the kids how to gamble Flash…" Manhunter muttered.

"Nonsense! Pizza's on me tonight kids." Flash said. "Be back in a flash!"

The speedster zipped out of the Cave in a red blur, causing the teens to turn their focus back on Batman.

"You will each have a written debrief to submit to me before noon. But until then," Batman paused, eying each one of them individually. "Good job."

"But don't make this a habit." Martian Manhunter finished.

After the two adults left the teens in the room, Robin turned to his teammates with a grin.

"We got a compliment from Batman? Do you guys know how hard it is to get one of those?" the Boy Wonder questioned.

Aqualad sighed. "Yes. We were lucky this time. Next time we'll…" Kaldur paused in his words, looking at his teammates' questioning looks. "Next time we will be more prepared."

"Yeah, I vote that next time, Megan and I run recon while the rest of you do something else." Kid Flash voiced.

"So you can desperately but subtly hit on her and she'll gently turn you down." commented Robin.

"Better than you making up words!"

"Hey! Those are _real_ words! People just don't-"

The room was silent when both teens were poked in their foreheads by a clearly annoyed Sora. Superboy released a thankful breath while M'gann and Kaldur just watched to see what was going to happen next. Wordlessly, Sora dropped his hands and began walking towards his bedroom.

 _'Thank you Sora.'_ M'gann sent her thoughts towards the boy.

 _'You're welcome.'_

"Hey Raijin!" Robin called, causing the boy to stop in his departure. "We'll save you a slice."

Sora merely gave the boy a nod before leaving the room. He was sure that Katana would want to talk about this mission later today, a meeting he was not too thrilled about. Not to mention that they were all sleep deprived at this point. Sleep was a necessity.

However, his main worries came from one simple problem: Sportsmaster. While he was lucky enough to not run into the man, he was sure that Sportsmaster, a man Deathstrokoe had introduced him to, would be able to recognize Sora's abilities and report them back to Sora's former "guardian". Batman and Katana knew of Sora's past, but the others did not know nor did they have a right to know. Another run in with Sportsmaster might change that though. Sora did not want that now. He had to plan for Deathstroke and Rose. But most importantly, he had to make a plan to stop _him_ without Rose this time.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Because I didn't want this to be exactly like canon, a lot of Wally's souvenirs will be altered much like this one being one of Bane's gunmen's suits and masks (what Sora was wearing undercover). Also, a lot of scenes that I don't want to change much from canon I won't write out unless it directly deals with Sora/Raijin. So for the first time in 2018 I say (type), if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments, leave a lovely (or not so lovely) review or PM and I will respond asap. Peace.


	5. Forget Me Not

Sora Gaiden

Chapter Five: Forget Me Not

 _The Cave/ Happy Harbor, RI/ 12:48 am/ July 31, 2010_

Slade was out there, somewhere. He was out there probably planning on finding Sora and finishing him off once and for all. And what was Sora doing while this was happening?

*Thud*

Sora found himself on his butt for the umpteenth time this morning. He closed his eyes and waited for the obnoxious sound to feel his ears again.

"You lose again, Raijin."

Sora groaned before opening his eyes and seeing the cocky stance of one Katana. Despite the fact that she was currently wearing her Katana mask, Sora could hear the cockiness in Tatsu's voice. Hell, he had been hearing it all day.

The pair had been training since the earlier hours with the only stipulation was that Sora could not use his sword or teleportation. As he theorized, Tatsu was the superior hand-to-hand fighter than he was and dispatched him rather easily with him unable to use his abilities. At first, Sora thought that there could be a chance that Tatsu was doing this to help him. Now he was certain that she was doing this just to annoy him.

"If you continue to hold back, Raijin, you will continue to lose." taunted the swordswoman. "I know that your former mentor has taught you things other than swinging your sword. If you don't come at me with the intentions of seriously injuring me, then I will continue to toy with you."

Sora grunted. "I am."

"Then you have some ways to go."Katana pointed out before taking her mask off and wiping her forehead as if she was sweating. "I have some news for you. I'm going on a mission soon. This means that you will have to talk to Black Canary about your dreams."

"Why do I have to talk to you _and_ Black Canary?" questioned the teen.

"Black Canary is here for the team. I am here for you." Sora released a disapproving snort. "You should be happy that I even bother showing up here."

Sora stood up. "You like beating me. That's why you're here." Sora's brows furrowed. "And where are you going? I thought you said that you're not a part of the Justice League?"

"I'm not. And where I'm going and what I'm doing has very little to do with 'justice'." Sora was a little perturbed by the answer. From training with Tatsu, he knew she was highly skilled, more skilled than she let on and he was willing to bet that she used that training with her soul-taking sword for things he could never do while part of the covert Justice League team.

Seeing his look, Tatsu replaced her masked and continued, "Don't look worried. It isn't you."

"I'm not worried." responded the teen.

"You are," Tatsu said. "And I need you to stop. During your last mission, the thought of Ravager ran through your mind. Batman told me about it and I'm sure Canary will ask you about it later." Tatsu crossed her arms, a stern look even through her mask making its way to the boy. "You need to cut that part of your life out while on missions, understood?"

"…" Sora merely stood with an uncaring look on his face. He was still not used to being ordered around people who refused to put a blade to his throat or paying him like Deathstroke did.

Once more, Tatsu sighed while her arms dropped. "Sora, they were family- and don't tell me otherwise. I know so. But your teammates can either be a part of your life or not. They can't learn parts of your past. Your past isn't shaped for that."

"How?" asked Sora.

"For starters," Tatsu told him. "You tell me what you're feeling until you get tired of thinking about it. That should stop random thoughts from haunting you."

"Hn," Sora responded. "And when will you be coming back?"

"Two weeks. Three at the latest." Her answer was not received with kindness as Sora, for the briefest of seconds, sneered at the timeframe. "Until then, your choices are limited. You either talk to Black Canary or Batman. And neither of us wants to talk to him longer than we have to."

Another brief feature graced Sora's face, this time a smile. He didn't hate Batman per se, but he was annoyed that he was forced to do this team thing. Batman had a lot of dirt on Sora and from the sounds of it, was ready to go to the cops as soon as Sora went too far down the wrong path. It bothered Sora to know that he also owed Batman this new life as well. But he still hated being here.

"So is there anything you want to tell me before I leave? Your teammates aren't beyond annoying are they?" Tatsu asked.

"Not really," shrugged Sora. "Not unless you count Kid Flash and Robin's bromance or Miss Martian's obvious crush on Superboy." Tatsu snickered quietly. "What?"

"You using the word 'bromance' is quite amusing." Tatsu said, drawing another sneer on the boy's face. "Lighten up Sora. It'll make the past easier to deal with."

At the moment that Sora thought about responding, Kaldur opened the door, gaining the two Japanese-Americans attention.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Kaldur said before looking at Sora. "But we have a mission. Batman wants us to meet with Black Canary and Green Arrow."

Sensing something wrong, Sora frowned. "Is everyone else there?"

"We're being divided for this mission." The answer did nothing but fan the flames of Sora's curiosity. "I'll explain as much as I know before we get there."

"Give us a minute," Kaldur nodded at Tatsu's directive and left the two alone. "Remember what I said Sora. Your past stays out of your thoughts until I return. Understood?"

"Hn," Sora agreed. "Can I go now?"

"Only if you think you're ready."

The statement was not as rhetorical as it sounded. Sora was not ready to go out with thoughts of his dysfunctional mercenary family popping up randomly in his mind. Everything from how Kid Flash and Robin's arguments sounded eerily similar to his and Rose's or how cynical Kaldur could become when trying to break down a mission was a blatant reminder of his past life. But he knew that he would have to put it aside some day.

He only hoped that that "some day" was here sooner than later.

* * *

 _Litchfield County, CT/ 2:23 pm/July 31, 2010_

Raijin, Miss Martian, and Aqualad stood in front of the Green Arrow and Black Canary completely focused. Considering each of them were wearing a specialized biker jump suit instead of their normal gear, it was obvious that this mission was going to be different from the others that they had. Behind them were motorcycles matching the colors of their suits that they would be using for this mission and an armored S.T.A.R Labs truck with a driver inside.

"Alright," a bruised Black Canary said as she put on her leather jacket. "You need to listen and listen well. This mission will _not_ be easy and you need to do _everything_ we say for it to be a success."

It was obvious that Canary's small displeasure of using kids for Justice League business was on display here. This made Sora believe that whatever this mission was had to be big enough for the blonde woman to set aside her thoughts on the manner and come to the younger heroes for help.

Well, either that or Superman, Batman, and/or Wonder Woman requested it so.

"Uh," Green Arrow interjected. "How about you let me do this one?" Black Canary scoffed with her arms crossed, as if she was mimicking Superboy. "The truck here," Green Arrow said pointing to a truck in the parking lot with them. "May or may not be containing something valuable to a dangerous man. You will follow him to a location where you will contact us after you've arrived safely."

"Why are we separated?" Miss Martian spoke up, asking a question Sora was thinking.

"Because your teammates will also be guarding a truck that may or may not be containing valuable pieces that a dangerous man wants." Green Arrow answered. "Canary and I will be guarding a third with Batman guarding the fourth."

Miss Martian gasped. "Is it safe for him to be working alone? Shouldn't Red Tornado or Superman-"

"Batman works best alone. That's probably why he sends Robin here with you guys." joked the Arrow.

"That aside," Black Canary said. "The locations for each individual truck must remain guarded by those protecting it. We don't know where your truck is going and you won't know where ours will unload."

Now it was Aqualad who spoke up, "I'm assuming that the others are being told the same."

"They are." The three teens shared a glance at the blonde woman's answer. "It is critical that the destination of this truck stays hidden. We're not risking it being said over radio."

"Which," added Green Arrow. "Is why we are using the covert team for this. Stealth is needed and, don't take this the wrong way, you three don't necessarily scream 'threatening' to the guy we're protecting this from."

Sora took in a quiet breath. Inside the truck in the parking lot was either carrying something some evil man wanted or a decoy to draw his attention. This did not sound safe- least of all, not safe for a bunch of kids being split into teams of two. Even if one was to factor in the abilities of Sora and his teammates, this seemed to be a bit out of their skill-grade.

He also noted that the two teams had the leaders (Robin and Aqualad) separated and the fastest two (Kid Flash and himself) separated. From experience, he figured that if things were to go wrong, it was Kid Flash's and his job to escape and deliver the message.

If it was that kind of live-or-die mission.

"Are those safe?" Miss Martian asked, pointing to the motorcycles that were being lent to the teenagers.

"They drive themselves." Black Canary informed the trio of teenagers.

"One final thing," Green Arrow said. "In the event that you are protecting precious cargo and you are attacked, do not lose the cargo. We prefer that you don't have to go on a killing spree to keep it but-"

"Keep it safe. Don't reveal your location. Got it?" Black Canary told the teens while sending her partner a heavy glare.

"Got it."

"Understood."

"Hn."

After Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Raijin answered, Black Canary and Green Arrow departed with a "good luck" coming from the blond man. The trio quietly walked to their separate motorcycles, Sora tapping M'gann on her forehead to send a nonverbal message that she received loud and clear.

 _'Are we linked?'_ Kaldur asked.

 _'Yeah,'_ The Martian replied as she got onto the motorcycle. _'What do you think we're guarding? They sounded serious.'_

Aqualad nodded as he put his helmet on. _'And they looked beaten and battered. We are either guarding the person who did it, or the weapon used.'_

 _'What do you think Raijin?'_ Miss Martian asked, placing her helmet on as well.

 _'Black Canary doesn't like us. This must be important.'_ Sora answered. _'We should probably keep an eye out for anything. I don't like this mission.'_

 _'Agreed.'_ Kaldur mentally stated.

The unnamed driver started the armored truck which signaled the teens to rev their bikes up. Sora made sure that his blade was secured on his back tightly before the truck began to pull out. The trio followed on their motorcycles with M'gann clearly having some fun.

 _'These are great!'_ Miss Martian telepathically communicated with her teammates. _'I wonder if we could get some for the Cave?'_

Grinning and amused himself, Aqualad admonished his teammate.

 _'We should focus on the mission, Miss Martian.'_

Sora agreed with Kaldur. They were guarding some unknown thing or person from another anonymity that could or could not be something that they could handle. He was unsure if he, Aqualad, and Miss Martian could actually succeed with this mission if Black Canary and Green Arrow were beaten that badly.

Sora then realized something that had not been said earlier: How many decoys were being used. To Sora, it made no sense to put all eggs into one basket. No one was that stupid. So these "pieces" that Green Arrow spoke about were more than likely spread amongst the four trucks. Whether there were just two decoys or the small chance that all of them were in one, neither Green Arrow nor Black Canary went into detail about how many decoys there were and how many pieces needed to be guarded.

 _"Robin to team,"_ The Boy Wonder's voice came over their communications link loud and clear. _"I guess you guys are moving as well, right?"_

"Yes, we are." Aqualad answered.

 _"And I'm also guessing that you have no idea where you're going."_ Robin continued.

"We were told our destination but," Aqualad stated. "I've been instructed not to reveal that to you. I'm sorry Robin."

Miss Martian and Raijin looked at Aqualad. They were both a little unnerve by how easy Kaldur was to lying to a teammate and friend. It didn't seem like the honest and helpful Atlantanean that lived with them.

 _"And how are you doing Miss M?"_ Kid Flash came through.

"I'm fine. These motorcycles are amazing!" Miss Martian responded. "I wish we had some at the Cave."

 _"Yeah, well maybe you can cheer Supey up. He's been in a funk since earlier."_ Robin commented.

 _"He's clearly not feeling the- What did you call it again? Aster?"_ Kid Flash's word choice gained a quiet scoff from Sora.

"I know that your earlier meeting with Superman did not go as you planned but don't let that anger interfere with the goal." Aqualad instructed. "Remember what Black Canary-"

 _"I don't need her or you telling me what to do!"_ Obviously Superboy was still annoyed by his meeting with Superman earlier that day. Sora had inadvertently ignored Superboy through most part of the day thanks to Katana arriving to talk to him. However, the swordsman knew that his current teammate was going to blow a fuse and cost them much more than the mission.

 _"Dude, chill. We all know that you're practically indestructible."_ Kid Flash attempted.

 _"Don't tell me what to do!"_

Sora only shook his head. This was not the time for one of Superboy's outbursts. They were being tracked down by an unknown man who wanted an unknown machine or weapon. To add on to that pressure, they were under a microscope from the Justice League due to their trip to Santa Prisca. Now was definitely not the time for Superboy to let his anger break his focus.

"How about," Miss Martian intervened. "After this we all go back and I'll bake some cookies?"

 _"Works for me!"_ Of course, Kid Flash was the first to respond.

"If we fail this mission, I fear that we might not have a base to return to. Black Canary seemed more on edge about acquiring our help." Aqualad pointed out. "Stay focused. We don't know what's out there just yet."

 _"You too."_ Robin's simple answer said a lot. It said that the Boy Wonder was not too comfortable with the mission and felt something amiss, just like Sora, M'gann, and Kaldur did.

Silence followed with Sora deep in thought. Despite the fact that he was possibly in immediate danger, he was thinking about Katana leaving him with Canary and the others. To his chagrin, Katana was the only person he could actually trust due to the fact that she, like he, was being blackmailed into doing it as well. She didn't lie to him and she didn't sugarcoat things either. She told him what he needed to know and left it at that. Black Canary, for the few times that Sora has actually spoken to the woman, was like a psychiatrist- if you were talking to her one-on-one it made him feel as if he had some deep mental or emotional problem that stopped him from doing the job. Black Canary felt more or less as an obligation while Katana was more of an older sister Sora did not have and did not necessarily want. Katana was there for him because it was him, Black Canary was there because it was her job.

Though to be fair, Sora has come to accept _some_ of his teammates. M'gann and Kaldur, for example, were the easiest to get along with. He'd throw Superboy into that group as well but the two hardly spoke. In fact, the only time they did speak was during training or on missions, both times being a necessity.

"Something's attacking the truck!" Miss Martian's voice caused Raijin's black eyes to move to the armored vehicle to spot what she was talking about.

"Those are… Monkeys?" Aqualad's disbelief was shared by Sora. There were several robot monkeys attacking the truck which led to more answers than questions. "Miss Martian, Raijin, remember the mission. We have to do anything to keep them from reaching the pieces inside."

"…" Sora's eyes marked a spot onto the truck before he vanished off of his motorcycle. Seconds later, the swordsman appeared on the moving vehicle with his sword drawn.

As Miss Martian flew off to aid Sora, Aqualad trailed behind on his motorcycle and studied the situation. These robot monkeys were ripping the truck apart as if they knew that what they were looking for was inside. Worse, the more Raijin and Miss Martian slashed and smashed the more that seemed to appear.

"Aqualad to Robin," Aqualad began through their comm.-link. "We're being attacked."

 _"Damn it. So are we."_ Robin responded. _"Robot monkeys?"_

"Yes. Do you think that this is the work of T.O Morrow?" questioned Aqualad.

Robin grunted. _"Robot monkeys, not really his thing. Whoa!"_ Aqualad heard a crash in the background. _"Gotta go! Keep those pieces safe!"_

"We will do our best."

Sora spun, halving five mechanical monkeys with one fatal swing. His eyes caught two of the machines firing their green laser beams from their eyes at his location, causing him to teleport behind them and behead them. Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind, the clutch forcing him to release his trusted blade, and hoisted several of yards into the air. The boy struggled and fought against the hold until he was finally released and dropped towards the earth.

Instinctively, Sora jumped once more time through space and distance and found himself back on the truck where his sword had fallen. However, he had not counted on Miss Martian to be backing up into him seconds afterwards causing them both to momentarily lose their balance.

"Sorry!" Miss Martian quickly apologized as she stood up.

"Don't worry about it." Raijin answered as the pair stared at the machines. Raijin clutched the handle to his sword. "Let's finish this."

As the pair moved to do just that, the truck swerved forcing M'gann to fly higher and Raijin to stab his sword through the roof of the truck to keep his footing. The monkeys present wasted little time to continue drilling through the armor to break inside while Aqualad did his best to get the driver out of the truck and to safety.

"Raijin! Inside!" Miss Martian called out as she telekinetically moved several of the monkeys off of the vehicle.

Sora realized that there had to be some of these pesky machines inside and dove into the hole to find out. To his pain, he was met with a green beam that blasted him through the air. He had the wherewithal to toss his sword into the grass next to the road and teleport next to it.

Groaning, Sora held onto his side and sat up. He looked over to the truck and, to his horror, watched it explode. His attention was then drawn to a crate being flown off by a troop of robot monkeys.

"Kuso…" Sora cursed quietly as he stood up painfully.

 _"Guys… We have a problem."_ Robin came through.

 _"We do too."_ Sora was actually relieved to hear Aqualad's voice. _"Our cargo has been taken."_

 _"How did they know which trucks to target?"_ Miss Martian asked next, another relief to Sora. He knew of her weakness of fire and theorized that it couldn't be easy for her to be next to an exploded armor truck.

 _"That's bothering me too."_ answered Robin. _"None of us knew that we were guarding the real deal or not and I haven't heard anything from Batman saying that any other truck was hit."_

 _"Where's Kid Flash?"_ Aqualad questioned.

 _"He had to chase down Superboy."_ Nothing else had to be said as Sora stared in the direction that the monkeys traveled off to. _"Raijin, are you there?"_

Miss Martian gasped. _"Raijin? Are you hurt? I should've-"_

"I'm fine." Sora interrupted.

 _"Ha! I got something!"_ Robin cheered. _"The parts have a GPS on them. That's how they were found!"_

 _"Can you tell where they're headed?"_ Aqualad wondered.

 _"Yeah… They're heading to Gotham City."_ Robin said.

 _"Raijin,"_ Aqualad addressed Sora. _"If I give you my bike, do you think you can track them down? I will stay here until a medic arrives for the driver. He was hurt during the attack."_

Sora looked southwards towards Gotham City. "I can catch them."

 _"Good. Because if we don't get those pieces back, this mission is going to become one large disaster. Heavy on the dis."_ Robin stated.

"Hn…" Sora agreed.

Just what in the hell did the Justice League get them into now?

* * *

 _Gotham City, CT/ 5:24 pm/ July 31, 2010_

Sora raced through the streets on the motorcycle, tracking down Robin's location while keeping an eye out for any sign of those stupid monkeys. He was also on the look for anything that remotely reminded him of Deathstroke. While he was outside of Miss Martian's telepathic range Sora was free to think about his past.

 _'I shouldn't overreact. Sportsmaster could be doing a job with Bane for an easy score. Nothing more, nothing less.'_ Sora schooled himself. _'For all I know, Slade has nothing to do with whatever Sportsmaster was doing.'_

It was a mantra that kept him from running away. If he kept calm, he would not just up and leave his new home. Sora knew that Batman or Deathstroke would eventually find him if he did run away. If Batman found him, Sora would be jailed for murders, robberies, and other things he committed while under Deathstroke's tutelage. If Deathstroke found him then he would most likely be killed on the spot. Well, he would if Deathstroke ultimately decided that Sora's was no longer any use to him.

 _"Raijin! Where are you?"_ Sora groaned at Robin's voice.

"On my way." the swordsman returned.

 _"When you get to the school,"_ Robin said in a quieter voice. _"Do_ _not_ _teleport, okay? This thing… Crap! Gotta go! Just remember what I said! Don't use your powers!"_

Sora rode quietly. Robin was the unofficial expert of the group due to his years working under Batman. The kid, despite his immaturity, was masterfully tactful and could find out secrets and weaknesses about their opponents that took the others a while to figure out. The downfall was Robin's lack in communication. The boy saw something, expected his team to see it to, and acted on certain parts- which is why Kaldur was the normally the go-to leader. But the plus side to Robin's ability allowed someone like Sora to come into a fight prepared, just like he would have been if he was still with Slade and the Wilson kids.

Either way, if Robin warned Sora about using his powers, then Sora would be very mindful in how and when he teleports until otherwise stated.

"Where are they?" Sora asked as he looked down at the GPS. Three of his teammates (Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin) were stationed in one location that he was zeroing in on. The other two (Miss Martian and Aqualad) were behind him at a greater distance.

Sora's eyes snapped up. "Kuso!"

The boy had to swerve out of the way of a falling robot, another one of those forsaken monkeys that he was growing tired of seeing already. Stopping a few meters away, Sora got off of his motorcycle and looked at the dysfunctional machine. More importantly, he studied the object protruding from the monkey's mechanical skull.

"Green Arrow," Sora said quietly before looking up at the roof top of the school. "I knew Canary didn't trust us."

With that in mind, Raijin quickly used his abilities to reach the rooftop to find the man and his blonde girlfriend. Removing his helmet to hear and see clearer, Raijin saw a pile of destroyed robot monkeys that led to a person aiming downward through the sky-light of the school's gym.

"Got you." The person said.

Sora's eyes narrowed. That signature long blonde hair and that arrogant voice was something he wouldn't forget. It was something that would be forever burned into his memory. Even with a green mask covering her face, Sora knew just who the person was and his body reacted accordingly.

Slowly Raijin unsheathed his sword. As the girl fired an arrow into the school gymnasium to hit an unknown target, Sora quietly stalked down his prey who was looking to fire another arrow.

"Hold still you…" The girl looked up and saw Sora coming her way. "Shit!"

Sora was able to tackle the archer, knocking her loaded arrow away. His momentum, however, carried him over which allowed the blonde to end up on top with her bow pressed against his throat. His sword was against her neck though neither went for the kill just yet.

The blonde girl glared down at Sora with familiar anger. "Did my dad set you up to do this? Huh?! Did he?!"

Sora teleported, causing her to end up on the roof with him safely away from her. The girl rose again and turned around, unsurprised to see the swordsman prepare for his attack. She grabbed an arrow and loaded her bow once more.

"NTW: Never Trust a Wilson." The archer spoke bitterly.

"Shinjimae!" Sora bit back.

He had been so caught up in Sportsmaster that he had nearly forgotten about the man's daughters. He knew that the oldest had run off years ago but the blonde present… Damn, how could he forget about _her_? Maybe having a team was making him careless or just plain stupid? There was no way he should have forgotten _her_.

 _"Raijin? Where are you? We could-"_ Sora took his earpiece out and crushed it under his boot.

It was time to bury the past.

* * *

 _Gotham City, CT/ 10:16 pm/ December 21, 2006_

Sora felt that most kids would either be enjoying the snow that had been falling from the dark fluffy clouds all day or locked inside their warm home drinking hot chocolate at this moment. Normal kids would be enjoying the holiday break from school.

But he did not have the luxury of being "most kids" anymore.

Bundled in a large coat and cargo pants that made him look larger than he actually was, Sora was currently present in the wooded outskirts of the city that only the rich seemed to know about. He was currently with Deathstroke, who looked unfazed by the coldness, and Rose, who wore something similar to Sora.

Not too far in front of them stood a blond man that Sora had come to know as Sportsmaster and Crock. Neither Rose nor Sora was allowed to call the man "Crock" to his face, but the two muttered it whenever they were given the chance. Slade never admonished them for it unless they were caught.

Next to the man was a small blonde girl who was also bundled in a large lavender coat. Sora had seen the girl several of times before though he always tried not to make eye contact with her because…

"It's your _girlfriend_ again!" And that was why. For whatever reason, Rose always teased Sora whenever there was another girl their age around, but it got worse the few times Artemis was said other girl.

Artemis looked at Rose and Sora before sharply looking away with a huff. The gesture caused Rose to snicker while Sora glared at the white-haired girl to his immediate right.

"Sora," Slade called out, ending Rose's snickers. "Crock and I have a friendly wager. Beat Artemis." Sora's eyes widened as Slade looked down on the boy with a leveling glare. "I don't have to remind you what would happen if you fail, do I?"

"No." Sora answered.

Slade looked ahead. "Then you'd better win."

"Hai."

Sora watched as Sportsmaster knelt beside Artemis.

"Alright Baby Girl, time for you to earn your dinner," The man said. "Beat this sorry kid back to Japan or wherever the hell he came from and you can stop eating that shit macaroni."

"But…" Artemis began before shaking her head. "Fine. I'll do it."

Sora watched the girl remove her coat and revealed the sports tee that she wore beneath. The boy stepped forward and removed his coat as well. He looked back up at Slade. The man was visibly tensed about something that Sora was unsure of.

"Hey! Sword-boy!" Artemis called out to Sora, gaining his undivided attention. "Are we going to do this or what?"

"Don't lose to your _girlfriend_." Rose taunted.

Sora growled. Most kids got to enjoy the snow or the holiday festivities or _something_ in Gotham City. He only got to train, do missions, and deal with Rose's boredom. It wasn't fair. But he knew that the unfairness would become worse if lost.

Sora took in a deep breath and then glared at Artemis.

"Gomen'nasai." Sora apologized.

"I don't know what that means," Artemis said in a softer tone. "But I'm sorry about this."

Sora's lips twitched. "Me too…"

* * *

 _Gotham Academy/ Gotham City, CT/ 5:32 pm/ July 31, 2010_

They would have a rivalry from that day forth that made Sora see Artemis in a whole new light. The once cute little blonde girl would always be known to him as the girl who did whatever necessary to survive. She was forever the girl that would use any dirty trick that she had in order to get a win, even a fake cry and a cheap shot.

A loud crash from inside momentarily stole Sora's attention. He had to save his teammates, if not for morality, then for the mission's sake. Yet at the same time, he could avenge his embarrassing lost to the blonde right here, right now.

 _'Honor and pride only take a backseat to the mission itself,'_ Sora quoted Slade's words in his head. _'Honor the mission and take pride in completing it. But do the damn mission.'_

With those words echoing in his head, he turned his back to Artemis and walked to the glass ceiling.

"This isn't over." he called over his shoulder.

"Wait, you're not going to-" The swordsman teleported before Artemis could finish her statement. "Great… That again."

Inside the academy, Sora appeared on the gym floor as Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy stood above a humanistic android of some kind. The swordsman stepped to them, drawing Robin's attention.

"What took you so long?" Robin asked, his voice filled with more curiosity than anger.

"Yeah! We could've used your help!" Kid Flash added.

"This is the weapon?" Sora ignored them both, directing his question to Superboy.

"Yeah. It was pretty tough." Superboy admitted.

"Which is why I didn't want you teleporting in here," Robin interjected. "Somehow this thing can copy the abilities of metahumans. It already had Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Superman, and Flash. The last thing we needed was it to gain your teleporting abilities."

Kid Flash hummed. "Maybe it was best that you _didn't_ show."

"And the monkeys?" Sora interrogated.

"Mostly destroyed. Ivo escaped but I'm sure we can track him with the MONQUIs that 'escaped' with him." Robin said with a smile.

"But until then," Kid Flash said. "How about we break this thing apart before it somehow learns how to fix itself? Oh! And dibs on a finger!"

Sora raised his blade. "Which finger?"

* * *

 _Gotham Heights/ Gotham City, CT/ 23:32 pm/ July 31, 2010_

Artemis was not comfortable with Sora in Gotham City. The boy had been kind to her when they weren't forced to fight against one another for her father's amusement. But with Sora came Rose, someone who was as big of a daddy's girls as she was a threat to society. Yet, there was something that truly irked Artemis now and it was not Rose's absence to the scene.

 _'He went to help them?'_ Artemis thought as she crossed from one roof to another, heading home. _'They knew who he was and he helped them? Is he there working for Deathstroke? Dad maybe?'_

Artemis was confused by the sight of Sora speaking to the sidekicks. Sora was a known accomplice to a high-skilled mercenary. Robin was the freaking sidekick to Batman, a known adversary of Deathstroke. There was no way that _Robin_ and _Sora_ were friends!

Artemis sighed as she came to her apartment building only to see an all-too recent ghost from her past standing atop of the building's roof.

"Like I said," Sora, now in his Raijin gear, said from behind his wolf-shaped mask. "This isn't over."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Here's the latest chapter of Sora's tale. Next chapter will be mostly flashbacks including what happened during the fight between Sora and Artemis. Once again, scenes that happen nearly identical to the actual show itself will not be typed (the Amazo fight for example) and some of Wally's souvenirs will be changed- he got a finger from Amazo here. But as always, if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments that you want to share, leave a PM or a review and I'll respond as soon as possible. Adios.


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